


Your Money's Worth

by SoraMystic



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Molly tries his darnest to flirt but unfortunately Caleb is rather ObliviousTM, Multi, Tags will be updated as the story progresses, also hella AU, and facing said trauma, caleb makes terrible life decisions and needs to be stopped holy gods, cameos are everywhere see if you can spot them, like wow, lots of talking about trauma, nothing is canon except backstories and even those get a lil tweaked, relationship progresses at the speed of a tectonic plate, self-indulgence is the only thing driving this plot, slowest of slowburns basically, the rules of dnd get stretched to their limits and beyond
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2019-10-05 12:32:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 31,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17325059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoraMystic/pseuds/SoraMystic
Summary: They say the Menagerie Coast has something for everyone. Unfortunately it might not be what you were looking for.Or; their trip to Nicodranas was supposed to last only a day, but something keeps Caleb there for longer than he had intended. Probably has something to do with that band of colorful weirdos. Definitely has something to do with that purple tiefling.





	1. The Amethyst of the Forest

**Author's Note:**

> [drags my hands down my face] I hate making summaries ARGH-
> 
> I've got this thing all plotted out don't worry, it's just hard to summarize without giving spoilers-
> 
> There's gonna be a roadtrip, I can tell you that.

Nicodranas is a two-faced city, Caleb and Nott learn soon after their arrival.

Sure, the citizens love to dress posh and there are guards – or _zolezzo_ , as they are called here – pretty much everywhere, but the moment they see the glint of gold, they’ll happily pretend they never even saw you.

Caleb mulls this over as they enter the city, having bribed the zolezzo guarding the gate to let the two of them in even though it is past curfew. At least that’s a silver lining, Caleb thinks. In the Empire, and especially in Zadash, money only means something if they can see it in your clothes. Here, however, it can get you anything.

It takes some asking around and Nott cocking her crossbow more than once (not really, but it gets them the answers faster) to get reliable directions, but eventually they find their way to the renowned Lavish Chateau, home to the most desired courtesans in all of the Menagerie Coast – and perhaps even the Empire.

Nott checks her mask and makes sure her ears are tucked into her hood before grabbing onto Caleb’s coat.

“Are you sure about this?”, she asks, voice muffled by porcelain.

Caleb makes a noise of acknowledgement. “It’s gotta work sooner or later, ja?”

He feels her shrug more than that he sees it. “If you’re sure, then I’ll support you of course. But the moment any of them hurt you…”

There’s the sound of a crossbow being cocked and at this point Caleb is pretty sure that any zolezzo looking to arrest them simply has to follow the trail of crossbow bolts Nott left behind. “Let’s try to avoid that. Going to jail once is more than enough for me”, he says.

A rustle of cloth tells him Nott has put the weapon away and he hears her mutter something, although the exact words are hard to make out.

\--

There’s a person by the door, because of course there is. There’s always a bouncer at places like this. This bouncer appears to be a tall human woman with dark hair and startlingly pale eyes. Appears to be – Caleb knows appearances mean nothing when magic exists.

They step into the queue that has formed and wait till they reach the woman.

Up close, she is even larger than he thought and Caleb has to tilt his head back to look her in the eye.

“Any weapons?”

Her voice is way softer and higher in pitch than he had expected. Caleb blinks. “Uh, no, nothing on me. Nott?”

“Can I please keep my crossbow? Pretty please???”, Nott asks. The woman shakes her head. “You are allowed a small weapon in case of self-defense, but a crossbow is something I’ll have to confiscate”, she says. “You’ll get it back when you leave.”

Nott fidgets and shifts but eventually hands over the crossbow. “I’m keeping my short sword”, she declares.

The tall woman shrugs. “Fine by me. Try not to kill anyone, though. That would make my job way harder than it needs to be”, she says and smiles faintly.

Nott gives a nervous chuckle and the two of them enter the Chateau proper. Nott grabs Caleb’s coat again and says; “She seemed nice.”

Caleb nods absentmindedly – apparently the Chateau is hosting a performance and people are rushing to and fro. He stops one of the staff.

“Ehm, apologies, but might I ask, who is performing tonight?”, he asks.

The staff member, a frazzled-looking gnome woman with white hair, looks at him. “Ah, that would be the Amethyst, sir”, she says.

“The Amethyst?”, Nott steps in.

The woman nods. “Yes, the Amethyst of the Forest.” Her expression becomes quizzical. “You didn’t know this? We have been advertising for weeks. The Amethyst gives performances whenever he feels like it, so there might be months without one.”

She sighs. “Frankly speaking, I can’t say I understand, but then again, it isn’t any of my business.” And with that, she disappears into the crowd.

Nott looks up at Caleb. “Should we stay and watch or just come back later?”, she asks.

Caleb looks at her, then at the crowd of people coming in behind them. Getting out might be a challenge, and getting back in might be nearly impossible. Technically he could try again tomorrow night, but he might have lost his courage by then.

Scratch that – the moment the sun rises, he will definitely lose whatever courage he has been mustering over the past weeks.

He shrugs almost helplessly. “I guess there’s no harm in enjoying the show.”

\--

The first sensation the audience experiences is sound.

From a dark stage, there is the ghostly sound of a lone piano are being played.

After a few seconds it is joined by a musical cascade, so many that it’s impossible to name the separate instruments.

And then a voice.

Caleb, who admittedly had been expecting something ethereal, is taken aback by the deep voice that begins to sing. The sound is rough, almost gravelly, and not at all what Caleb had imagined someone called ‘the Amethyst of the Forest’ to sound like.

The next sensation is sight.

The instruments calm and they can now see the singer.

And again, everything Caleb has been expecting gets subverted.

The Amethyst is a tiefling, of course. Lavender skin with hair and horns a few shades darker, wearing a gaudy coat, an off-white shirt hanging open and probably very tight trousers – probably, because the boots go way up high, with heels you could stab a person with.

The whole ensemble nearly clashes with the song itself, which tells of a world ending, of someone scared for their loved ones, of persistence, death and divinity.

What keeps everything together, though, is the presentation.

The tiefling gestures expressively, their facial expression changing as the song changes.

At one point, when the narrator asks about love and the presence of a divine being, the tiefling’s entire composure radiates soul-crushing anguish and anger.

Caleb understands why the Chateau has been hyping this performance so much – the sense of loss portrayed here feels almost personal. The Amethyst of the Forest is very talented indeed.

The song is over before he knows it and a thunderous applause fills the room.

The tiefling raises his arms and takes a dramatic bow, the dramatic air gone and instead he grins a wide grin.

The moment he walks off stage, Caleb jumps up, patting Nott’s shoulder to signal his leaving, and follows the Amethyst backstage.

Or at least, he tries to – the tall bouncer woman is there. Because why would this be easy for once?

Caleb weighs his options. He could go talk to her and potentially lose his nerve and end up running off before he’d even opened his mouth. Or he could turn himself invisible.

He bites his lip as he mulls this over. Invisibility requires a spell slot, but then again it’s for a relatively good cause and it’s almost night anyway and _you know what, fuck it-_

He recites the incantation and watches it take hold, then goes to slip past the woman. One of the floorboards creaks and her head whips in his direction, but she doesn’t seem to see him and goes back to watching the hallway.

Caleb exhales and slowly turns the door’s handle, surprised to find it unlocked.

He pushes the door open as quietly as he can. The opening is almost wide enough for him to slip through when it creaks. Not too loud, but enough for the tiefling sitting in front of the vanity to pause.

“Yasha, darling, is that you?”, the Amethyst says as he turns around. When he sees no one there, he frowns. “Yasha?”

Caleb’s mind is going a mile a minute. He hadn’t actually expected to come this far. Shit. What now? There is no way for this scenario to play out where he doesn’t come off as some kind of creep- Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

The decision is made for him when the tiefling stands up and moves over to the door. “Yasha, was that you?”, he asks and Caleb panics, giving the door a shove so it clicks shut.

Whelp. Now he’s gone and done it.

Instantly the tiefling’s body language changes, becoming tense and on edge. He glares at a spot just a little to Caleb’s left. “Who’s there?”

Caleb steadies himself, drags a hand across his face. Shit. He’s been a real fucking dumbass. Dammit.

The Amethyst starts backing up slowly, moving silently and with cat-like grace, eyes scanning the room for any movement. “Show yourself. I’m not stupid, I know you’re here”, he says.

“Uhm… Hello…? Don’t, ah, don’t freak out. I mean, I’m not here to do you harm-”, Caleb says.

_SWOOSH!_

Caleb’s teeth click together as his jaw shuts and a sword embeds itself into the wall next to him, so close it nearly took his ear off.

The Amethyst, arm still outstretched from throwing the blade, bares his teeth. “I’m supposed to take some voice’s word for that? Been there, done that, never again.”

Briefly Caleb contemplates to take a few steps to the right, away from the sword, but figures that the tiefling might hear the rustle of cloth and actually hit him this time. Also he doesn’t know how many swords the other has stashed in this room, and Caleb’s not too keen on finding out the hard way. So he stays where he is – effectively trapped.

“Hold on a moment, just a second- Please let me explain myself and after that, you can decide if you still want to turn me into shish-kebab, alright?”, Caleb says hurriedly and starts preparing a Shield, just in case.

A faint grin appears on the Amethyst’s face and he drops his hostile demeanor. Spinning another scimitar around, he says; “Alright. Sounds about as reasonable as disembodied voices can get, so sure, why not.” He points the sword straight at Caleb this time. “Talk.”

Caleb releases a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. “It’s, ehm, it’s really nothing weird, I was just wondering if I could… you know… make… use… of your, ehhh… services, tonight…”, he trails off.

The Amethyst of the Forest blinks, then grins, then starts to laugh. “What, it was just that? Gods, man, of all the ways to ask for that and you chose the one where I hold you a sword point?” He grins a half grin. “You know what? Sure. Anyone that absurd is right up my alley, so why the hell not? I’m up for it”, he says.

Caleb slumps against the door in relief, releasing another breath and accidentally breaking the concentration on the invisibility spell.

The tiefling’s smile widens and his eyes light up. “My, you’re even cuter than your accent made me think~” He laughs again as Caleb sputters. “Do I get a name to put to that cute face? Just in case, well, you know~”, he winks.

Again Caleb drags a hand across his face, trying to calm himself. This didn’t go as disastrous as he thought it would, but it still could have gone better. “Caleb. Widogast”, he mutters in response.

You’d think eventually a person’s face would reach the limit of how far it can stretch a smile, but this limit doesn’t seem to apply to the Amethyst. “Well then, Mr. Widogast, it would seem that you’re my date for the evening.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The thing Caleb and Nott are talking abt is what I can only define as shock therapy, just so we're all on the same page o3o You'll see more it next chapter and maybe later as well.


	2. Sharing is Caring

Considering the Amethyst’s aesthetic, Caleb figures he should have been able to anticipate the appearance of the courtesan’s room, yet it still stakes him by surprise.

It’s bright and obnoxious and a mix of at least three different architectural styles and yet _somehow_ it all works perfectly together. How that’s even possible, Caleb has no idea.

Meanwhile, the tiefling has flopped down onto the bed, laying down with a satisfied groan and gestures towards the door. “Close the door, would you? If I were into that sort of thing I would have chosen a different profession”, he says and Caleb can hear the grin in his voice. Unlike the door downstairs, this one barely makes a noise as it softly slips into the lock with a click.

The tiefling sits back up and Caleb wonders how he hadn’t noticed the fact that his eyes are full red, the feathers of a peacock’s tail tattooed across the side of his face. Caleb briefly wonders if the man has more tattoos, and if so, where. He shakes his head to get rid that thought.

The Amethyst grins as if he knows what Caleb just thought and leans back a little. “So, what ‘services’ do you require exactly? Stuff like timeframe, preferences, all that”, he says, surprisingly business-like in tone.

Caleb finds a stool to pull up and sits down, removing his scarf and moving to take off his coat as well until he notices the tiefling staring at him with mischievous interest and folds his hands into his lap instead, holding onto the scarf. “Uhm, probably the entire night? I don’t know, I wasn’t expecting the question of a timeframe”, he admits and the Amethyst laughs.

“Many people don’t, but some nights are busy and I need to be able to schedule on the fly sometimes”, he says with a shrug. The casual notion throws Caleb off for a second but he manages to get a grip – for the Amethyst, this is just routine after all.

“Any preferences?”, the tiefling presses and Caleb reels his brain back in and out of his musings. He shifts. “Uhm, well, I’ll- I will be honest, I don’t exactly… do this? Often? I’d rather not have it any more complicated than it needs to be, if you follow my drift”, Caleb says and _what the fuck is he even saying good god-_

The other nods. “Sure, sure. I’ve build my brand on mutual respect – we’re not doing anything one of us doesn’t want. So if you want to keep it simple, that’s fine by me”, he says and shrugs again. Then he names his price and Caleb tries not to wince.

Sure, it’s not as expensive as he expected, but still a bit more than he’d hoped. Instead he clears his throat, fidgets with his scarf a little. “That, uh- that sounds fair, I think I can manage that”, he says.

The Amethyst leans forward, a smile playing around his lips. “I should hope so, darling. You’re gonna have a tough time finding the same kind of quality elsewhere”, he drawls.

Caleb coughs again. “W-well then… ehm, scheisse, I forgot- what is your name, friend? I completely forgot to ask”, he admits.

The Amethyst of the Forest smiles and gets up, walks over to Caleb and gets almost uncomfortably close. …Then again that was kind of the idea, wasn’t it?

“Mollymauk Tealeaf. Molly to friends”, the tiefling, Mollymauk, says in a voice that borders on a whisper. His hands settle on Caleb’s shoulders, who has to make an active effort to not die on the spot.

Caleb’s coat falls on the floor with a soft _thump,_ shortly followed by the book holsters, and Mollymauk leans in closer, resting one of his legs on the stool and arms loosely wrapped around Caleb’s shoulders. Caleb can see every single line of the feathers tattooed on the side of the man’s face.

“If I do anything that makes you uncomfortable, feel free to stop me immediately, alright?”, Mollymauk asks quietly. Caleb, not trusting his voice right now, nods.

Mollymauk smiles, leans even further in and- oh. Oh, that’s- that’s kind of nice. The kissing is definitely nice.

More on reflex than anything else, Caleb grabs the back of the tiefling’s shirt and feels him smile against his mouth. Caleb decides he’s definitely in favor of this.

\--

At one point they end up in the bed. Caleb doesn’t know how or when or who moved first, but he doesn’t care right now. Right now Mollymauk is on top of him and they’re still kissing and it’s still nice and somewhere in the back of his mind Caleb realizes that he’s actually sort of at peace right now, which is new.

Mollymauk pulls back and they both have to gasp for breath for a moment. “You good? Still wanna continue?”, Mollymauk whispers and Caleb nods again. “Better than I’ve been for the past few months, if I’m honest”, he says with a half-grin and in hushed tones.

The tiefling snickers. “Rough life?”, he asks and Caleb grins as well. “You could say that”, he says and shrugs to the best of his ability, what with Molly holding his wrists above his head. No idea when that happened, either, but he’s not objecting, so Molly isn’t stopping.

Mollymauk closes the distance again and eventually slowly starts moving his hands further down – from wrists to shoulders to under the hem of the collar, under Caleb’s shirt and up his sides and eventually-

Caleb’s brain short-circuits when he feels fingers push between his pants and hips and his own hands fly to Molly’s shoulders, giving a soft push and breaking away from the kiss. “Stop- stop- I don’t, I- Let’s, uhm, not”, he mutters.

Molly sits up straight, just a little out of breath. He doesn’t look upset, although he does slightly raise an eyebrow. “You know we can’t exactly have sex if you’re not taking off your pants, right?”, he says, not without a slight smile.

Caleb draws a shuddering breath and wipes his face. “I know, I know, I just- I’m, I’m sorry, I thought- I thought I could do this- I’m sorry.” He’s rambling and he knows it but he can’t stop. He moves to sit upright and Molly slides off of him, instead taking up sitting next to him. Mollymauk tilts his head in confusion.

“You thought you could do this? You mean, having sex with me? Or just in general?”, he asks. There’s no accusations, no irritation, just concern. Not exactly what Caleb is used to and it does nothing to help his scrambled brain.

“In- in general. I thought I could- I’m sorry, I’ve wasted your time”, Caleb says quietly and avoiding eye contact. He flinches when he feels a hand on his shoulder.

“You’ve got nothing to apologize for, alright? And you don’t have to explain anything either. Just… just know I understand. I really do”, Mollymauk says. Caleb turns his head slightly to see Mollymauk give him an empathic smile. “Somehow I find that hard to believe. No offense”, Caleb says.

Mollymauk shrugs. “I mean, I’ve had plenty of people come here and try to, hm, push their boundaries on what they were comfortable with. People who weren’t into the whole sex-thing, but felt they needed to be in order to be ‘normal’.”

Caleb hears the grimace as the tiefling says that last word and he gives a little chuckle. “Alright, that kind of sounds like my situation. Not exactly, but close enough”, he admits. Molly smiles again and then turns around, pressing their backs together.

“Like I said, you really don’t have to explain if you don’t want to. I’m not asking for your life’s story. But you’re not alone in this, yeah? I mean, my opinion probably doesn’t matter much since we literally met about fifteen minutes ago, but just… Find yourself some support, okay? I bet there’s someone out there willing to help”, he says.

Caleb’s thoughts instantly go to Nott’s words from earlier;

_If you’re sure, then I’ll support you of course. But the moment any of them hurt you…_

Would she still say that if she knew what exactly had caused him to feel the way he does? Or would she run? He hopes the former but fears the latter.

He clears his throat. “Do you, uhh, do you psycho-analyze all your clients? Or just me?”, he asks with a half-smile and Mollymauk laughs. “Only the ones who seem like they could use a few pointers. Whether they follow my advice or not is none of my business”, he says.

“Hah…” Caleb then stands abruptly, causing Mollymauk to fall backwards with a yelp and earning him an accusatory glance. “Hey, what gives?”, the tiefling asks.

Caleb awkwardly motions to the door. “Well, I mean, uhm, I should probably- probably go? Since we’re not gonna, you know- An-anyway-”, he stutters and goes to grab his holsters and coat but is stopped when Mollymauk says; “When did I say you had to leave?”

Caleb turns back. Mollymauk is sitting up again, arms crossed and one eyebrow raised. “I- I assumed…”, Caleb mutters and then drifts off. Mollymauk grins. “You _assume_ quite a lot, mister Caleb. You _did_ pay for the entire night after all, so why not get your money’s worth? Unless you _really_ want to leave, in which case I won’t stop you”, he says.

Caleb stops. Contemplates this. If he leaves now, he’ll have to find an inn or something of similar nature, and pay for a room for him and Nott. The thought of spending more money than he already has almost has him wince. In addition to that, Nott wouldn’t be expecting him back until the next morning anyway… He sighs.

“Then I suppose, if you really do not mind…?”, Caleb says. Mollymauk grins. “Wouldn’t be offering it otherwise”, he says and pulls back the covers. “C’mon.”

\--

Eventually Caleb settles himself into bed next to Mollymauk. “This is a little weird…”, he mumbles. Mollymauk chuckles. “Should we make it less weird?”, he asks and Caleb shifts, shrugs. “I mean, if you have any ideas?”

Mollymauk pushes himself up and reaches over Caleb, grabbed one of the wizard’s spellbooks off the nightstand. “What’s in here? Or am I not allowed to see?”, he asks, cheeky grin firmly in place.

Caleb takes the book from him. “Oh, you’re definitely allowed to see, it’s just not, ehm, very interesting? It’s my spellbook, so it’s just incantations and components”, he says.

Mollymauk’s eyebrows shoot up. “You’re a wizard? …Hm, probably should’ve gathered after the whole invisibility-thing, huh?”, he muses, then grins again. “What’s the most amazing spell you’ve got in there?”

_The groundworks for reality-bending._

Caleb blinks.

Like hell he’s gonna say that out loud.

To a stranger.

What the shit.

Instead, he cracks the tome open and starts flipping through the pages. “Ehm, so far the most interesting spell I’ve got is, ehm, a thing called Dreamwalking? Which allows me to, well, to enter another person’s dream”, he says, then adds; “But I can’t use that yet. The components are hard to come by, so I can’t practice often.”

Molly gives a low whistle. “That sounds pretty awesome. What else have you got?”

This continues on for another two hours, at least. Caleb talking about what spells he has, what they do, and questioning the logic of some, and with Mollymauk commenting, asking in-depth questions or just giving a bark of laughter at Caleb’s complaints.

He’s right in the middle of talking about some of his most-used cantrips when he realizes Molly has fallen quiet. Glancing over in the tiefling’s direction, it turns out Molly has fallen asleep at some point, his breathing slow and steady.

Caleb closes his spellbook and puts it back on the nightstand, shifting a little so he’s laying on his side, facing the Amethyst of the Forest. _Kind of a weird fellow,_ Caleb thinks, _but nice. A kind, weird man._

_The world could stand to gain from a few more of those, probably._

\--

Caleb wakes up with a start and for a moment can’t recall where he is. He groans, one hand going to his head when he figures out that it’s probably around four in the morning. He also can’t feel his right arm – this is why he shouldn’t sleep on his side. He is also vaguely aware of arms loosely wrapped around him.

As his mind clears more, he realizes that he isn’t out on the road right now and that the person holding him isn’t Nott.

Caleb tenses as he realizes that apparently, somewhere during the night, Mollymauk embraced him and _he didn’t notice_. Normally the lightest disturbance would be enough to wake him up, so why…?

He tries to formulate a theory, but it _is_ four in the morning and Caleb _is_ still very tired, so eventually his conscious slips again and he goes back to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm, I wonder why that is~? >:3
> 
> Also the following chapters will be longer, I had to warm up a lil o3o~


	3. Jester Ex Machina

The second time Caleb wakes up he does so slowly and with the sun shining directly in his face. He groans, rolls over, sighs, and then just decides to get up.

“Oh hey, good morning, mister Caleb.”

Caleb turns and sees Molly in a chair at a vanity, only partially dressed, with wet hair and in the middle of very carefully drying his horns. The tiefling grins. “Or, to be fair, good afternoon at this point. You must’ve been _really_ tired.”

Caleb jumps up at that. “Afternoon?? Gods, I- I’m sorry, I normally don’t, uh, don’t sleep in that late. Oh gods, Nott- she’s probably been waiting for hours at this point-”

Molly hums as he goes from drying his horns to drying his hair. “Hmm, Nott… Goblin girl, screaming, about yay high?”, he asks and gestures in a rough approximation of Nott’s height.

Caleb stops right as he clips his holsters back in place. “Uhm, well, she usually doesn’t scream, but yes? Wait, how do you know her?”, he volleys back.

Molly chuckles. “Because she was here a few hours ago, yelling profusely and nearly breaking down my door. I’m actually surprised you slept through that – it was quite the scene. She tried to fight Yasha but Caduceus managed to calm her down. I think she thought I’d done something to you”, he grins and turns around to start putting rings and other baubles in his ears and horns, cursing quietly as one refuses to snap shut.

“Sorry for that. Nott can be… protective… at times”, Caleb mumbles and Molly laughs. “I’ve noticed. Oh well, no harm done, right?”

“Right. Ehm… do you, do you know where she is right now?”, Caleb asks. Mollymauk snaps one final chain into place before turning towards Caleb and somehow, even though he lacks his gaudy outfit from the night before, the Amethyst looks even more extravagant than before. Caleb would be lying if he said it didn’t send his mind reeling for a bit.

“She’s downstairs, last I checked. I’ve conscripted a colleague to keep her company and to keep an eye on her, should she decide to go on another rampage”, Mollymauk grins.

Caleb laughs nervously. “That’s, uh, that’s fair.” He slips his coat on. “I should, ehm, go, then. Uhm, thank you, for your company, and maybe one day we’ll cross paths again”, he says as he goes to open the door.

Molly smiles. “I look forward to it. Should you ever be in need of a random stranger to give you advice, you know where to find me”, he says and winks.

Caleb gives an unsure grin, nods, and leaves.

\--

As he heads downstairs, Caleb realizes he didn’t ask about how to recognize Molly’s colleague but figures finding someone like Nott shouldn’t be too hard. Knowing her, his best chances are going to the bar and checking there first.

The bar turns out to be rather empty, which is a bit odd considering the time of day, but Caleb doesn’t need to worry for long because the moment he reaches the last step he hears a familiar, shrill voice shout; “CALEB!!! OVER HERE!!!!”

Nott is waving at him from a table not too far from last night’s stage, which is now occupied by a small band playing some smooth music. Sitting next to her and waving just as excitedly is a blue tiefling woman. Molly’s colleague, Caleb thinks.

He sits down next between Nott and a third person, a half-orc man who smells of the sea. He turns to Nott. “…You’re drunk”, he notes.

Nott grins at him. “Yup. This place is really nice if you have enough money, Caleb”, she says, slightly slurred. Despite her drunkenness, Caleb feels her grab his hand under the table and trace a Thieves’ Cant symbol. _Harm?_

_None._ he replies.

“I would assume so”, he says, then jerks his head towards the tiefling woman and the half-orc. “You’ve made some new friends I see?”

Nott nods enthusiastically. “Yes, yes I did. Caleb, this is Jester-”, she points at the woman who grins widely. “-and Fo- Fyordi? Fyorrd??”

“Fjord”, the half-orc, apparently named Fjord, says. “The ‘j’ is silent.”

“Right”, Nott says. “Jester and Fjord. Jester works here-”, and here she drops her voice to an almost conspiratory tone “-as a _lady of the night._ And Fjord’s a sailor.”

“And my boyfriend”, Jester adds on and Fjord sputters. “Jester-!”

“What, it’s true! You met my mom and we kissed and everything!”, Jester says, probably a little louder than strictly necessary. She seems upbeat and cheerful and Caleb wonders if she’s always this loud.

Ignoring Jester’s protesting, Caleb looks at Fjord. “A sailor? That sounds like it could be dangerous”, he says. Fjord’s smile is a tilted one and Caleb notices he hides his teeth when he talks. “Yeah, sometimes it is, what with the sea being unpredictable and storms and things like that”, he says.

“And pirates, don’t forget the pirates”, Jester says. Then she turns her attention to Caleb and he sees now her eyes aren’t monochrome like Molly’s, but instead more human looking and deep blue. “Sooo”, she drawls. “I heard you were with Moooolly last night~ How was it??”

Fjord sighs. “Jester, that’s really not- not something you can just ask…”, he says. Jester hmph-s and puts her hands on her hips. “Well! He doesn’t have to tell me if he doesn’t want to, I just thought it might be a nice conversation starter, you know?”

She emphasizes her words for dramatic effect, which makes her Menagerie accent more and more prominent. Caleb’s heard most people in Nicodranas talk with it, and subsequently realizes that neither Molly nor Fjord have the same accent.

He notices Jester looking at him, her chin resting on both her hands and her eyes shining. “Sooo? Did you two have fun~??”

Caleb feels a heat rise up in his neck and prays it doesn’t spread too quickly. “U-uh, it- I- We, uh, talked, mostly. It was- it was very nice”, he says, internally groaning. _Very smooth, Widogast._

Jester’s grin widens and Caleb _knows,_ he fucking _knows_ he’s as red as a lobster. “An- anyway, it’s been very nice meeting you”, he says as he stands and gives Nott’s hand a soft tug. “Shall we go explore the town?”

Nott nods, puts her tankard down and slides off of her chair. “Bye bye, Jester, Fyordi”, she says. Fjord rolls his eyes and Jester pouts. “Aww, so soon! Oh well, see you later then! Maybe! Hopefully!”, she says with that large grin of hers.

As they make their way to the exit, Nott says; “Oh! Oh, Caleb! I have to go get my crossbow back from the large lady!”

“Ah, right. I nearly forgot. Let’s go get that”, Caleb says and looks around for either the tall woman (who he is pretty sure is the Yasha Molly kept mentioning) or another staff member. It ends up being the latter.

“Uhm, excuse me, miss? Do you know where the confiscated weapons are being kept? We’re on our way out and my friend would like her crossbow back”, he says and the woman, a half-elf with blue feathers in her braid, smiles. “Of course, follow me.”

\--

They’re back on the streets of Nicodranas within five minutes. There’s the smell of salt water and the sounds of seagulls squawking as they fly past. Nott aims her crossbow a few times but never actually shoots one.

A few minutes of silence pass before Nott speaks up. “Did Jester make you uncomfortable?”, she asks. Caleb makes a non-committal noise. “Not her, specifically. That sort of question would be unsettling regardless, no matter who asked”, he said.

Another few moments of silence.

“She was nice”, Nott says. “And Fjord as well.”

Caleb nods. “That person, the Amethyst, Mollymauk, he was nice too. It seems that place has a lot of nice people”, he muses.

“So was that really all you did? Just talk?”, Nott asks. Caleb puts his one free hand in his pocket. “Ja. I- I couldn’t go through with it, after all. I explained that to him, or at least partially, and he understood. At least, he understood well enough. He didn’t get upset or judge me, which was nice.”

Nott doesn’t say anything, just gives his hand a squeeze. “I’m glad it turned out alright. But I- I did get worried at one point. You were gone for so long I thought- I thought something had happened. I’m glad that wasn’t the case”, she says.

Caleb smiles at her. “So I heard. Mollymauk said you tried to fight his bodyguard? Would’ve liked to see that”, he grins. Nott puffs up her chest. “I could’ve taken her! But that firbolg man was nice, he gave me tea. Then Jester came along and she gave me alcohol. Very nice people. Decent people”, she says.

“Indeed. Also, I’m- I’m sorry for worrying you. I don’t know how or why, but I slept in really long for some reason. It’s just as weird to me as it is to you”, Caleb says. Nott glances up at him.

“Do you think there was magic involved?”, she asks. Caleb has to admit he hadn’t considered that possibility yet. It sounds reasonable, but… He shakes his head. “No, I don’t think- I don’t think they would do that. That’s no way to run a business, hm?”, he says.

Nott shrugs. “I guess so.”

“…So are we headed for the next town, or do you want to look around this place some more?”, she then asks.

Caleb hums. “Let’s take a look around. A merchant city such as this must have some interesting items. Plus I need some paper and ink for spells anyway”, he says.

\--

Caleb’s entire day is made when they find a store that specializes in gems of any kind, magic or non-magic, rare or as common as a roadside rock. The Dreamwalking-spell requires fifty gold worth of heliotropes and the half-dragon lady behind the counter is more than happy to trade a spell for a discount, which definitely helps. Now he needs a peacock feather or three, some cotton and a piece of silk.

Caleb can’t say he understands the logic behind these items, except for the heliotropes, which, according to the woman who owns the store, can help focus the mind to enable lucid dreaming.

The fact that he needs the feathers of a peacock specifically seems like the universe having a laugh at him, as the moment he reads those words his mind goes back to Mollymauk. _Wonder what he’s up to right now…_

He shakes his head to rid himself of that thought. Since when does he care about random strangers?

Anyway. He can probably get the feathers and other materials at a crafts shop or a tailor’s.

Unfortunately for him, those feathers prove to be remarkably difficult to find.

Three different shops later, Caleb still has no sense of where to get the damn things. He sighs. Maybe it’s time to broaden his search options. An antique store maybe?

A tug on his hand tells him Nott has stopped. He looks back at her and finds her looking at him with a question in her eyes. “What’s wrong?”, he asks.

“Why are we back here? I thought we were looking for feathers”, Nott says and points at the building they’re headed towards.

The Lavish Chateau.

Caleb blinks. _How did…? Why…?_

“I- I don’t know- I wasn’t- Uhm, I think we’re headed the wrong way, we should get someone to tell us where we can find an antiques shop”, he says. Nott gives him one last questioning glance before looking around. Then she points excitedly.

“Caleb! Caleb Caleb Caleb!! I saw Jester!! She could help us!”, she exclaims before immediately running off.

“Ah, Nott, wait- Aaand she’s gone”, Caleb mutters to himself. He looks back at the Chateau. He hadn’t actively planned on coming back, so why on Earth was he here now? Maybe he’d slept too much. It would be a first, but he’s not ruling it out. Too much sleep can make a person just as groggy as too little.

He is startled out of those thoughts when someone taps him on the shoulder. “Excuse me, sir, could I ask you something?”, a soft voice asks. Caleb turns and comes face to face with a black cat’s snout – a Tabaxi, probably female, judging by the voice.

She watches him with large, unblinking eyes and Caleb realizes he’s staring. “Uhhh, yes, probably? What do you want to know?”, he says. For some reason the Tabaxi’s demeanor has him on edge. She seems… shady, somehow. Or maybe he’s just imagining things.

“I’m looking for my friend, I haven’t seen him in ages and I heard he might be here. Have you seen a purple tiefling around these parts?”, the Tabaxi asks and, again without any reason, Caleb’s neckhair stands on end. There is something about this person that provokes a certain kind of response.

“Uhhh, no, no I haven’t. Have you tried Port Damali? All sorts of strange folk gather there”, he says. The Tabaxi shakes her head. “I haven’t yet. Thank you, I will continue my search there”, she says and begins to walk away, then stops and turns back. “Should you ever hear or see anything, please send message to Cree in Port Damali, if you would.”

Caleb nods and gives a thumbs-up. “You got it. Glad I could help”, he says.

And with that, the Tabaxi woman disappears into the crowd.

Caleb’s heart is racing. Someone’s looking for Molly? Why? He shakes his head in an attempt to clear his mind. _It’s none of my business, it’s none of my business, it’s none-_

“Caleb!!”

Caleb turns at the familiar voice and sees Jester coming towards him. “Long time no see!”, she grins. She isn’t alone – following her are Fjord, Nott, the woman he assumes to be Yasha and a tall firbolg who may or may not be the same firbolg who helped calm Nott down when she was all anxious that morning. There is another woman at Yasha’s side who he doesn’t recognize from any stories, one who looks both annoyed and bored.

Jester follows his glance and she claps her hands. “Oh yeah! Caleb, meet the rest of my gang!”, she says. The annoyed-looking woman scoffs. “Jester, we’re not your ‘gang’”, she says and her voice is exactly as low and gravelly as Caleb expected.

Jester makes a face at her. “Well what else am I supposed to call you! Or are you still upset from when Ophelia called you my-”

“No. No, no definitely not”, the woman interrupts and crossed her arms, her frown deepening, definitely still upset about whatever was said by this Ophelia.

“Anyway!”, Jester continues. “You’ve already met Fjord, and you probably saw Yasha yesterday?”

The large woman nods, then gives Caleb an unreadable stare. “You snuck past me”, she says. Not an accusation, just a simple stating of a fact.

Caleb laughs nervously. “Y-yeah, s-sorry about that”, he says. Yasha shrugs. “It’s okay. No harm was done”, she says and smiles faintly.

Fjord raises his eyebrows. “Definitely wanna hear that story”, he says. Jester jumps from one foot to the other. “Later, later! So, that’s Yasha. This guy here is Caduceus-”, she points at the firbolg man, who gives a small wave and smiles “-and the grumpy ooone~ is Beau.”

Then she stage-whispers to Caleb; “Her full name is Beauregard but no one really calls her that.”

Beau jerks her head in an acknowledging manner. “’Sup, wizard man?”, she says. Caleb nods back. “Not much, scary lady.”

It’s slipped out before he can stop himself and Jester nearly screams with laughter. Beau grins at him. “I like your guts”, she says and Caleb can’t figure out if that’s a compliment or a threat.

“Your little goblin friend said you needed help with something?”, Caduceus asks. “Spell components?”

“Uhm, ja. It’s for this spell called Dreamwalking. I need these feathers and I have no idea where to find them”, Caleb says. Whereas the Tabaxi woman from earlier put him on edge, the aura of the firbolg man is quite calming. It’s very nice.

“What sort of feathers?”, Jester asks at the same time Beau asks; “Have you tried the crafts’ store?”

He nods at Beau. “Yes.” And then, to Jester; “Uhh, peacock feathers.”

A mischievous grin spreads across Jester’s face and Caleb instantly wishes he had told anyone but her right now. “Oh, I know where to get those~ - Molly needed a few of them a while ago for some act”, she says.

Caleb clears his throat. “Well, ehm, lead- lead the way then.”

\--

The store Jester takes them too is a weird one, to say the least. It sells an abundance of trinkets, not one of which looks anything like the other ones. The dragonborn woman, presumably the owner of the store, watches them like a hawk. Caleb tells Nott in Thieves’ Cant not to steal anything.

Sure enough, they find the feathers and are back on their way to the Chateau when Jester suddenly gasps and grabs Fjord’s arm, leaning forward and whispering; “Yasha! Caduceus! Hide me!”

Caleb blinks but Yasha and Caduceus do as their tiefling friend asks, obscuring her from view and seemingly not thinking anything of the request. To make matters even weirder, Fjord and Beau go to walk next to Jester.

“What’s going on??”, Nott asks. “Are you guys… taking up positions for something?”

They can’t see her since her two tallest friends are in the way, but they hear Jester say; “Yeah, there’s uh, there’s this guy who I played a prank on this one time? And apparently he was a really powerful lord and one thing kinda led to another and basically the moment he sees me he’ll have me arrested and probably executed maybe.”

“What?! Why? What did you do??”, Nott says.

“Well it was actually kind of funny! So like, before I started working at the Chateau, I was an active follower of this god called the Traveler? Anyway he’s kind of a trickster guy and he taught me some spells that I could use to prank people with, so this one time my mom was about to receive a client-”

Nott interrupts Jester’s rattling with; “Your mom works at the Chateau too?”

“Yeah”, Jester says. “Anyway, so there was this client of my mom’s and I thought it would be funny if I pranked him by turning into my mom and locking him out on the balcony. It worked, but he didn’t think it was funny and ordered to have me arrested.”

“Because you left him out there, in the cold, with nothing on”, Fjord says, grinning despite his attempt at chastising. Caleb sputters and Nott snickers. “Nothing?? Like, at all?”, she asks.

They hear Jester giggle. “Yup! He was in his naked butt out there for the whole town to see. So yeah, that’s why I have to hide when I’m out sometimes because he wants me dead”, she concludes.

Caleb scoffs. “Seems a bit uhm, excessive for just a harmless prank. Sure, he was maybe humiliated but execution sounds like an overreaction”, he says.

“Exactly!”, Beau says and claps Caleb on the shoulder, nearly pushing him over. “It was fucking hilarious! Guy should grow a sense of humor asap.”

“Let’s just get back to the Chateau in one piece for now”, Caduceus says. “Then we can trash-talk Lord Sharp as much as we want.”

\--

The sun is beginning to set when they finally return and Caleb politely declines Jester’s plea to hang out with them for the night.

“Then at least let us help you get set up somewhere”, Fjord says. “Some of the inns here are downright tourist-traps.”

Beau nods. “Those guys can and will scam you”, she says with a tone that indicates she speaks from experience. What sort of experience exactly, Caleb doesn’t really want to find out. He shrugs. “Alright then.”

They find a place not too far from the Chateau and Jester calls in a favor from the innkeeper. At least, that’s what Caleb assumes. What happens is Jester going up to the counter and in a cheerful voice declaring; “The Ruby of the Sea says hello!” to which the innkeeper pales, then reddens, then asks in a grumbling voice what she wants. A whisper of “the Ruby is her mom” from Beau does nothing to add context.

And so it happens that Caleb and Nott end up with a reasonably-priced room for the night.

They lie in silence for a few minutes until Nott says; “Those people were weird.”

Caleb nods. “So they were.”

“But they were nice people.”

“So they were.”

“Are we leaving tomorrow?”

“…Do you want to leave?”

Nott is silent for a moment. “…Do we even know where to go next? Do you still want to, you know? Do the thing?”

Now it’s Caleb’s turn to be silent for a moment.

“…I don’t know”, he says. “Not any time soon, anyway.”

“Can we stay here a bit longer then?”

“Hm-hmm.”

“Do you want to go see that Molly-fellow again?”

The question catches Caleb off guard and he tenses.

“May-maybe. He, uh, he seemed like a decent fellow. Had quite an interest in magic.”

He hears Nott’s grin in her next words; “So you two really just geeked out together yesterday? That’s nice.”

Caleb smiles a little at the memory. “It was. He’s a good listener.”

Nott shifts a little. “That’s good. You should be making more friends, Caleb”, she says.

“I don’t know if a brothel is the right place for that”, Caleb says, not without a grin.

“Well, there’s clearly decent people there. I don’t think it could cause any harm. And if it does, well-” She holds up her crossbow. “-they’ll have to answer to me and my buddy here.”

Caleb laughs. Then he wonders if he should tell her about the Tabaxi woman who approached him. On the one hand, he would like her opinion on the matter of whether or not he should inform Mollymauk about her, on the other hand it’s late and interacting with people has exhausted him and oh, Nott’s already asleep.

Well then.

Time to get some shut-eye as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A better title would have been 'Cree Ex Machina' now that I think about it.
> 
> Anyway! The Mighty Nein is finally together! Yay!  
> Next chapter will have backstory, mostly, so look forward to that~


	4. Risen Anew

The next morning Caleb tells Notts he needs to go talk to Molly about something. His friend tilts her head but doesn’t question it, instead says; “I’ll hang out with Jester and Fjord, if they’re around.”

It’s exactly a five minute walk from the inn to the Chateau and once they enter, the first thing they hear is; “CALEB!! NOTT!! OVER HERE!!!!” and they see Jester waving wildly at them. Next to her, Beau winces. “Jester. Loud”, she groans, head in her hands.

As they walk up, Caleb raises his eyebrows at her. “Someone’s a little hungover”, he says. Beau flips him off, earning her a nudge in the ribs from Fjord. “Ow- Right, right”, she mumbles.

“What brings you here so early?”, Fjord asks. “Wouldn’t exactly call this the type of place you’d normally visit during the day.”

Caleb clears his throat. “Uhm, yeah, I have something I need to talk to Mollymauk about. Do you know where he is right now?”, he says.

“Uhm, actually-”, Jester begins right as a voice behind Caleb says; “Good morning to you too, mister Caleb.”

Caleb turns and sure enough, there’s Mollymauk, gaudy coat and flashy jewelry and all. “To what do I owe the honor? Or did you just miss me?”, he grins and Caleb wishes he wasn’t insinuating what he was insinuating because he can see a huge smile creep onto Jester’s face from his peripheral vision.

“Eeehm, well, yesterday, there was, uh, a uh- a woman who asked about you and I wondered if- ehm-”, Caleb stumbles and tries to block out Jester’s soft “oooohhhh” and Beau’s unintelligible but no doubt unflattering commentary.

Molly’s grin goes from teasing to maybe a little smug. “Oh? And did you regale her with tales of my, hm, accomplishments?”, he asks. Caleb sighs, trying to recollect his thoughts and getting a little annoyed. “Well, I don’t know how much you like Tabaxi people but no, I did not”, he says.

“Eh, on the one hand, they’re very flexible, which is a plus. On the other, the fur is an absolute pain to deal with”, Molly shrugs and Jester giggles, then returns to whatever she, Nott and Beau were talking about. Fjord’s attention is lazily divided between the two conversations.

Caleb hopes he’s not turning too red and _gods, was this really the right choice?_ “Right…”

“Did she leave a name? Someone asking specifically after me, I’d love to get in contact”, Molly says, grin still in place.

Every moment talking is another regret, Caleb thinks. He hums. “If I understood her right, her name was Cree?”

And just like that, the smile drops off of Molly’s face. In fact, he looks almost scared. “Cree?”, he asks and while his tone is unwavering, his eyes betray him. He bites his lip, glances to the side, then back at Caleb. “Is it alright if we continue this conversation elsewhere?”, he asks quietly. “I don’t- I’d rather we discuss this in private.”

Caleb blinks at the shift in demeanor and wonders who this Cree is to get such a reaction out of the self-assured tiefling. He nods. “Alright.”

Mollymauk waves at his friends, effectively getting their attention and declares; “Me and mister Caleb here need to discuss some business, you guys have fun and try not to burn the place down.”

“No promises”, Beau says and Jester pouts first, then grins. “Have fun you two!” And while that statement is innocent enough, her grin says otherwise. Caleb remembers when she told him and Nott about her following of that trickster god, the Traveler. If this is her as a casual worshiper, he wouldn’t have liked to see her in her heydays.

As Caleb follows Molly up the stairs, he notices a certain tall lady is missing. “Where’s Yasha?”, he asks. The patterns on the coat before him ripple as Molly shrugs. “Yasha’s kind of a wanderer. Sometimes she’s here, sometimes she’s not. It’s almost impossible to predict her absences”, he says. He pauses for a moment. “Wonder if she’ll be back for the Midsummer Fest.”

They reach Molly’s room and the tiefling closes the door behind them. “You said you met someone named Cree. Tabaxi woman. Black fur?”, he asks and Caleb nods. Those large gems of eyes in that void-like face were hard to forget.

Mollymauk begins to pace, muttering something under his breath. This continues for a bit during which Caleb sits in silence, feeling incredibly awkward. Then Molly seems to remember Caleb is there too and his head snaps up. “What did you tell her exactly? Is she still in Nicodranas?”

Caleb shakes his head. “She seemed shady somehow? I didn’t trust her at all. I told her I didn’t know who she meant and suggested she try Port Damali”, he says. Molly laughs, short and a bit bitter. “The other end of the Menagerie Coast? Well done, mister Caleb.”

He sits down with a sigh, makes a face. “Fucking shit. I thought I’d told her to piss off, that I didn’t- She’ll haunt me to the end of the fucking world, won’t she?”, he mutters, more to himself than anything.

Caleb shifts, feeling like he stumbled on something big and personal and tries to figure out how to leave without being impolite. “Maybe Yasha can hit her on the head and she’ll forget all about it”, he says – a half-hearted attempt at a joke. Molly looks up at him and eventually a smile spreads across his face. “That would be nice. In fact, that would be great. But I doubt it’s that easy. Cree never is.”

Another moment of silence passes, this one a bit less awkward.

“Might I ask, ehm, how do you know this Cree person? When I said her name you went pale. Is that something I can ask about, something you feel comfortable telling me?”, Caleb asks eventually.

Molly gives him a once over, his expression one of deep thought. He shrugs. “I mean, I suppose. If you’re willing to hear what could most likely be called the most complicated story ever. Because it’s very complicated. And Cree’s right in the middle of it all”, he says.

A bit dramatic, Caleb thinks. But he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t curious. “If you’re fine with telling a stranger such things, then I’m fine with it too”, he says. Molly smiles again. “It’s mostly because of that, to be honest. You’re a stranger, a traveler passing through. At some point, you’ll move on from Nicodranas and depending on the path laid out for you, might never return”, he says and there’s that smug grin again. “My secret is safe with your indifference.”

“Secret?”, Caleb echoes, feeling more and more like he shouldn’t be asking about this but he _wants_ to hear it now that it’s been built up like this. Molly nods and leans back in his chair.

“I haven’t even told the others this. Yasha is the only one who knows.

“About how I clawed my way out of my own goddamn grave.”

\--

“It’s a bit vague, but I remember waking up to the smell of rot and earth and the overwhelming realization that I couldn’t breathe. So I started to dig, the way of least resistance. Earth once disturbed is easy to disturb again, so getting out wasn’t too hard.

But I didn’t know where I was, how I got there, why I was in the ground, what my _fucking name was-_ There was just- empty space where there shouldn’t be. I was no one, some poor soul abandoned in the middle of nowhere, surrounded with the forest – yeah, that’s where I got my epithet from; a purple gem amongst foliage. Sure, Jester’s mom picked it, but she’s got quite the sense of poetry.

Anyway, I don’t know how long I spent by myself until Yasha found me. I was scared, I didn’t know where or who I was, and suddenly there was a hulking woman in front of me. According to Yasha, I attacked her. Again, I don’t remember much, but as you can probably imagine she subdued me no problem.

“She got me to the nearest town, got me cleaned up, and stayed around, trying to get me to talk about what happened and why she found me in an open grave. I couldn’t tell her – literally. Speech was beyond me. When she asked me for my name, I supposedly told her ‘empty’, which she thought were initials. M.T.

So she gave me the name Mollymauk Tealeaf. An identity, someone who I could be until I remembered who I was before I died. Because that’s what must have happened, right? The evidence speaks for itself.

“After a few months, though, it seemed I wasn’t remembering anything. Whoever I used to be, he got left behind in the dirt, a grave in a forest on a deserted island surrounded by open ocean. Whoever that was, he didn’t want to be easily found.

Enter Cree.

Me and Yasha were on our way to Nicodranas and I think we were somewhere near Port Zoon when we encountered Cree. She was trying to barter a ship, to go out onto the ocean. Then we caught her eye and she- she _recognized me._ Or at least, she recognized my face. She came up, called me ‘Lucien’, asked about some ritual, and I remember being confused and a little scared until Yasha stepped between me and her.

“And amnesia be damned, I didn’t forget what she said then. She said; “You’re scaring my friend. Back off.”

I mean, I didn’t have anyone. We’d only know each other for a bit and yet Yasha called me friend. She didn’t even know me. Hell, _I_ didn’t know me.

Needless to say Cree wasn’t happy about that at all. Told Yasha to move, to let her talk to ‘Lucien’, tried to appeal to me but of course she wouldn’t budge, that barbarian of a woman. She just said; “He’s my friend Mollymauk. We don’t know a Lucien.” And then we abandoned Port Zoon as fast as we could, heading to Nicodranas, careful to leave no trail for Cree to follow.”

\--

Molly exhales deeply. He looks tired now, as if recounting this story has physically exhausted him. Maybe it has.

They sit in silence for a while as Caleb processes what he just heard.

Then he clears his throat and breaks the silence; “How-… How long ago… was this?”, he asks, hushed – whatever moment was just created between them, Caleb doesn’t want to shatter it.

Molly smiles the shadow of a smile. “Two years ago.”

“That’s…” Caleb shakes his head. He can’t find the words to describe what he’s thinking. “That is…”

“Short?”, Molly scoffs. “Don’t I know it. There’s so much about the world that I don’t know.” He stares out the window, looking at the ocean and the seagulls outside. He sighs. “Nicodranas is a good place. It’s beautiful, it’s fun, it’s interesting, especially those guys downstairs. One day, though, I hope to see a bit more than just the Menagerie Coast.”

He looks back to Caleb. “Where are you from, mister Caleb? Your accent is not from around here, for sure”, he says. Caleb reels from the sudden shift in conversation a bit before regathering himself.

“I, uh, I’m from the Zemni Fields. That’s part of the Empire”, he says. Molly’s eyebrows go up. “The Empire? The only other person I know from the Empire is Beau.”

Beauregard is from the Empire? She seems much more at home here in the Menagerie Coast, Caleb thinks.

“Aren’t the Zemni Fields rather far away, though?”, Mollymauk continues. “What brings you all the way down here?”

Caleb freezes. Of course, he would’ve had to face that question eventually but… Not even Nott knows. He’s told her part of it, but certainly not all. And he definitely isn’t going to tell a stranger all about it, no matter how great the possibility of never meeting again is.

He plays with the end of his scarf. “I, ehm… I am on the run. From the Empire”, he says. It’s part of the truth, sure, but only a small aspect. Caleb hopes he can satisfy Molly’s curiosity before the questions start poking too deep.

“On the run? What did you do? Didn’t think you a man of crime, I will admit”, Mollymauk says with a smile. Caleb shrugs, avoids eyecontact. “I- I uh- I may or may not have broken out of prison? Together with Nott?”, he says.

Molly leans forward, tail swishing, teeth bared in a huge grin. “Prison you say? Where?”, he asks.

Caleb begins to retreat into his coat. “Rex… xen… trum…?”

“WHAT!” Molly slaps the arm rest of his chair. “Fucking _Rexxentrum?!_ As in the _capital_ of the goddamn _Empire?!_ ” He leans back. “You’re telling me you broke out of a prison in the heart of the Empire? Where they’re strongest? Fucking hell man, it’s almost unbelievable.”

Caleb scoffs. “Says the man who crawled out of his own grave”, he points out and Molly grins. “Touché”, he says.

The tiefling intertwines his fingers and rests his chin on them. “Now I’m _really_ curious though. What were you in for?”, he asks.

Caleb hesitates, wonders how much he can say without saying too much.

“I… I was on death row actually. For trying to kill an Archmage from the Academy”, he says. _Okay, that’s good, that’s enough, stop there, you’ve said enough._

“Soltryce Academy? Even I’ve heard of that place. What on Earth where you trying to kill one of their mages for?”, Molly asks.

Caleb clenches his jaw, feeling a wave of memories come on but managing to beat them back down. “…Personal circumstances. …He… That Archmage was… involved in the deaths of… people very dear to me…” He inhales, deep and shuddering slightly. “To be quite frank with you, that is all I really want to say about it, if you don’t mind.”

Because he is basically talking to the carpet at this point, Caleb doesn’t notice Molly’s smile, but he hears it in the tiefling’s words. “Of course. I’m sorry if I pried too much. We’ll leave it at that.”

“Whatever we said here stays between these walls. I won’t tell anyone anything you told me unless you say I can”, Mollymauk says. “And of course I hope I can expect the same from you.”

Caleb nods. “Ja, of course. I’ve got plenty of secrets myself, I think I can carry yours around as well”, he says, cracking a tiny smile. “Your secret is safe with my indifference.”

“Same to you”, Molly replies. Then he stands. “Well then, if our business has concluded, I suggest we rejoin our friends downstairs. Hopefully they didn’t wreck the place too much in our absence”, he says.

\--

Nothing appears to be wrecked when they return, fortunately, although Nott ended up drunk again and was in the middle of teaching the other three a drinking song in goblin (much to the delight of both Beau and Jester) when she notices Caleb and waves. “You’re back!! How did it go?”, she asks.

Caleb shrugs and sits down next to her. “Eh, so and so. What about you?”

Nott grins her pointed teeth bare. “’m teaching them some old songs from way back when. They’re pretty good at it, except Beau keeps saying ‘fart’ instead of ‘ass’”, she says. Beau grumbles. “It’s a difficult word, alright?”

Jester says something in goblin and Nott gestures at her. “See, Jester can do it!”, she says and Beau grumbles again. Caleb looks at Fjord. “What about you, sailor man? I would assume you have a sense of melody at the very least”, he says and Fjord grins at him.

“Can’t say the lyrics are my style, but it has a nice beat for sure. I didn’t know the goblin languages had such small nuances though”, he says. “One wrong syllable and instead of telling your mother ‘love you’ you’re telling her to fuck off.”

Jester gasps. “Nott Nott Nott you have to teach me to say “I love you” in goblin!”, she says, patting Nott’s arm with each word. “Well, there’s not a word for ‘love’ exactly, but I can teach you ‘you are my treasure’ which I think is close enough”, Nott says, pulling her arm back and rubbing the sore spot.

Jester gasps again and Beau nods approvingly. “That sounds pretty damn poetic”, Beau says right before Jester begs Nott to teach her again.

Nott tells her the phrase and Jester repeats it, a bit off at first, but as they keep repeating it back and forth, the blue tiefling eventually manages to say it. She looks at Fjord and says the phrase.

“R-right back at you”, Fjord mumbles, green skin turning just a shade darker. Jester grins and jumps up. “I’m gonna go find my mama and tell her right away!”

She worms her way out between two chairs and skips off, happily singing the phrase “you are my treasure” in goblin.

Molly watches her until she is out of view and leans back. “I agree with Beau, that is a poetic sentence. Wonder what it sounds like in another language.” He grins at Caleb. “Wonder what it sounds like in Zemnian.”

Caleb, who had just been taking a sip of water, chokes. Beau, who made a face and whispered “gross” when Molly said he agreed with her, slaps her forehead. “ _That’s_ what that accent is! I’ve been wondering about it from minute one!”, she says.

Caleb feels Molly’s stare on him as he catches his breath and soothes Nott’s fussing before turning to the other. “W-which phrase exactly?”, he asks.

“The first one, specifically”, Molly says and Caleb feels like he’s missing out on a joke from the way Molly phrases that. “The- the “I love you”? That, uh, that would be ‘ich liebe dich’”, the wizard says.

There murmuring around the table as they all try it out. Beau grimaces. “It hurts my throat. Speaking goblin was easier”, she says. Molly hums and from the way Beau flinches, Caleb assumes he kicked her under the table. And as expected, Beau flips Molly off, who flips her off right back.

Fjord leans in. “And uh, ‘I love you too’? How’s that said?”, he asks. Beau nudges him. “Got an idea, did you, Casanova?”, she smirks and again Fjord goes a shade of green darker. “M-maybe.”

“Oh, then you add “auch” at the end”, Caleb says.

“Ich liebe dich auch?”, Fjord says and Caleb nods. “Got it in one.”

Fjord grins. “Neat.”

A few minutes later Jester returns to their table, plants her hands on it and shouts; “Hey Fjord!” followed by ‘you are my treasure’ in goblin. Fjord grins at her and says; “Ich liebe dich auch.”

Jester gasps. “Oh my gosh, what was that?? Fjord? What did you just say???”, she asks going around to yell directly into her boyfriend’s ear. “I said ‘I love you too’ in Zemnian”, Fjord says. “Caleb taught me.”

Again Jester gasps, long and exaggerated. “CALEB YOU GOTTA TEACH ME CALEB PLEASE-”  
She continues to yell until Caleb puts up his hands. “Alright, alright! What do you want to know?”

\--

About an hour later Jester skips away once again, singing Zemnian phrases with varying degrees of obscenity. Caleb sighs, rests his head in his hands and groans.

Molly leans in, grinning and placing a hand on Caleb’s shoulder. “You alright there, mister Caleb?”, he asks. Caleb groans again. “I have so many regrets”, he mumbles into his hands and Molly laughs. “Such are the dangers of teaching Jester anything ever”, the tiefling says.  He gives Caleb a pat before pulling back. “Unfortunately it’s very hard to say no to her.”

Caleb uncovers his face and scoffs. “You can say that again”, he says and Molly laughs again.

They stay like that for a while, talking and laughing and teaching each other phrases in other languages until Fjord excuses himself – he’s sailing off first thing in the morning and he hasn’t properly said bye to Jester yet.

Beau snickers. “Don’t let the sea monsters eat you”, she says and Fjord laughs at her. “Not a chance!”, he says. “The Midsummer Fest is next week, I intend to be here for that!” He walks off.

Molly claps his hands. “Oh, that’s right! I nearly forgot!” He turns to Caleb. “Will you stick around for the Fest? It’s pretty much _the_ happening of the year, anyone who’s anybody is going to be there”, he says. Caleb makes a thinking noise.

“Nott, what do you think?”, he asks. Nott, shaking her cup for the last drops of alcohol, looks at Molly. “Will there be booze?”

“Of course.”

Nott puts her cup down. “Well, you’ve convinced me”, she says and Caleb chuckles. “What about you, Caleb?”

Caleb shrugs. “I mean, it’s not like we’ve got better places to be. Sure, we’ll stick around until then”, he says and Mollymauk grins. “Wonderful! It’s gonna be great, I can guarantee you that.”

Beau, who had been lazily observing, blows a raspberry. “Gods, Molly, could you _be_ more obvious?”, she says and catches the tankard Molly throws at her head. “Oh, shut up”, he says. “You’re just cranky because Yasha left.”

Beau blows another raspberry. “At least I’m not an obvious flirt like you”, she says. Molly gives a single bark of laughter. “Darling, there is no one more obvious with their flirting than you”, he says.  
He ducks out of the way of the tankard Beau throws back at him and it clatters on the floor.

Beau stands up. “Alright, I can take a hint, I’ll give the two of you some alone time”, she says and gives them a wave as she heads into town.

Caleb watches her go with some confusion. “What was all that about?”, he asks Mollymauk, who shrugs and retrieves the tankard. “Oh, nothing. She just loves to tease and sow a little discord, especially when her girlfriend’s run off again”, he says.

“Girlfriend? Yasha?”, Caleb asks. It’s not exactly unexpected, the two scary ladies being a couple, but the casual statement still takes him by surprise. Molly nods. “You should’ve been there. It was like watching a kid throw pebbles at a brick wall”, he grins. “The most hilarious thing I’ve seen in my life.”

They talk a little more, about Fjord and Jester, about Beau and Yasha, about Caduceus and two of Molly’s colleagues, Marion and Ophelia.

Caleb remembers the name Ophelia from the day before. Turns out she’s a rather haughty lady also known as ‘the Onyx of the Creek’ and there’s been bad blood between her and Beau since day one. Molly doesn’t know why since he wasn’t around when that feud started, but he finds it hilarious.

Caleb also learns that this Marion, the earlier mentioned Ruby of the Sea, and Jester’s mother are, in fact, the same person. “A lovely lady”, Molly says. “Tries her darnest to be there for Jester. Brilliant woman.”

Eventually the lobby is dyed in orange and gold as the sun sets. Molly stands and stretches. “Well, mister Caleb, it’s been an absolute pleasure, but it’s almost time for me to get to work. I look forward to seeing you at the Midsummer Fest, if not sooner”, he says with a wink.

Caleb stands as well and nods. “Same to you.”

Mollymauk grins. “It’s a date then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah yes, the nuances of the goblin language. Very intricate indeed, yep.
> 
> Also anyone who’s anybody, you say? Hmm, I wonder...
> 
> Up next: obligatory beach episode!! :D


	5. Rest and Relaxation

Caleb devotes the next two days entirely to transcribing and finding new spells and asks Nott if he can practice ‘Dreamwalking’ on her, to which she agrees.

Nott’s dreams are exactly what Caleb expected – dimly lit subterranean places with lots of shiny things and other trinkets strewn around and entirely devoid of any water. Sometimes there is a ghostly version of himself, casting a spell, and he feels Nott’s affection whenever such a scene emerges. He doesn’t get to see Nott herself, as the spell description mentioned. It doesn’t say why, which is a little irritating.

On the third day Caleb finds himself getting restless. As much as he loves staying inside and working magic all day, thanks to the heat and salty air their rented room becomes almost unbearable, even without his coat and his hair out of his neck.

When Nott comes back late in the morning from a round of pick-pocketing, Caleb asks; “Should we go hang out with Jester and her lot this evening? I’m getting a little claustrophobic to be honest.”

Nott perks up. “Sure! Should I send a message?”, she asks. Caleb shakes his head. “It’s only a little while away, I think we can walk.”

\--

As per usual, they find Jester in the lobby of the Chateau, together with Beau and Caduceus. Fjord and Yasha aren’t back yet by the looks of it.

As soon as she sees them, Jester waves. “Nott, Caleb, hi!! Ohh, Caleb you look different without your coat~”, she says. Caleb smiles. “A good different I hope”, he says.

“Oh, of course, definitely!”, Jester says and Beau nods. “Was starting to think you’d fused with that coat”, she says. She then reflexively flinches in anticipation of a prod that doesn’t come. She huffs. “It’s weird without Fjord around”, she mutters. Jester drapes herself across the table. “I knooow, he should come back soon~”, she complains. Then she perks back up. “So what are you guys here for? You want to hang out or something maybe?”, she asks.

_Is she a mind-reader or what?_

“Uh, yeah, actually. If you guys don’t have anything to do today”, Caleb says. Jester claps excitedly. “We don’t!! It’s been sooo boooring without Fjord and Yasha you know? Oh, oh! Have you two been to the beach yet??”, she asks.

Nott shakes her head. “No. Is that near the water?”

Jester nods. “Yeah and it’s really nice! We should go!” She jumps up. “I’m gonna ask if Molly and Caduceus wanna come too!” And before anyone can stop her, she runs off.

Beau sighs. “Sometimes I wonder how she’s not completely exhausted by the end of the day”, she says. Caleb gives a short laugh. “Oh, good, I thought I was the only one who thought that”, he says. Beau grins at him.

“So you guys any good at swimming?”, she asks. “No, I hate water!”, Nott instantly shouts. “I won’t go in there, you can’t make me!”

Beau puts her hands up. “Whoa, no one’s gonna make you do anything, man. If you don’t wanna go in, you don’t go in. There’s plenty of other shit you can do at the beach”, she says. She glances at Caleb. “What about you?”

Caleb shrugs. “Eh, pretty average, I would say. I won’t drown, at the very least”, he says.

“HEY GUYS!!”, Jester announces her presence once she returns, followed by a Molly who looks as if he got dressed in a hurry; one boot only partially laced up and coat hanging off of one shoulder. “Caduceus will be joining us a bit later with some food he said so we should go ahead”, she says.

\--

Of course Caleb and Nott have seen the beach. It’s been there whenever they went out these past few days and of course the salty smell is always around, even when they can’t see it. But actually _being on it_ , well, that’s certainly new.

Nott crouches down, putting her fingers in the sand and letting it spill from her hands. She grabs a handful and inspects it closely before dropping it back onto the beach. “There’s so much sand”, she says.

“Well, that’s the idea”, Molly says, in the middle of removing his boots and coat. “I’m heading into the water, who wants to join?”

Beau finishes kicking off her wide pants, takes off her bracelets and unties her hair. “Always, my dude”, she says as Jester runs past, launching herself into the seawater like a cannonball, screaming with joy all the while. “YOU GUYS IT’S SUPER NICE GET YOUR BUTTS IN HERE!!”, she yells. Beau runs after her. “Out of my way, Jessie!!”, she shouts and jumps in as well, narrowly missing Jester who takes this opportunity to splash her human friend the moment she resurfaces.

Nott spreads her cloak out and sits down with a huff. “I’m not going in. No way in hell”, she says. Molly chuckles. “Sure thing. Just be sure to get in the shadow if the sun starts being a bother. Wouldn’t want you to get sunburned – that stuff is painful”, he says. Nott nods. “Alright.”

Molly looks at Caleb. “What about you, mister Caleb? Care to join us?”, he asks and Caleb blinks out of whatever daze he was in. “Ah- yes, yes of course”, he says. He crouches down and begins to take off his boots.

Molly smiles and flings his shirt aside onto the pile of clothes and lastly his pants as well. “See you in a bit then”, he says and runs over to Jester and Beau.

Caleb watches him go and finds he’s gotten the answer to an earlier question of his; the peacock occupies most of the right side of the tiefling’s chest, and when he turns around, there’s also a snake on his arm, curling up into flowers on the shoulder and an all-seeing eye near the neck. There could be more but Molly’s gone too fast to get a better look.

Eventually Caleb wades into the water and just floats on his back for a while. It’s nice, the ocean. The rhythmic sound of the waves pulling back and forth, the screaming laughter of Jester muffled somewhat by the water. The sky is bright blue with only a few clouds and seagulls overhead.

Yeah, this is definitely very nice.

Then Mollymauk’s face appears above him and says something Caleb can’t hear. He straightens himself. “Sorry, what?”

Molly grins and points. “I said Caduceus is here and if we want to get some food”, he says.

“Oh, yeah, sure. Before Nott eats it all”, Caleb says. Molly laughs at that. “Hungry one, is she?”, he asks. Caleb nods. “You could say that, yes.”

Apart from a basket of food, Caduceus also brought a picknick blanket and a parasol, “In case of too much sun”. Nott peeks in the basket and then asks; “Do you have something more… raw?”   
Caduceus’ brow furrows. “Not… really?”, he says. “What did you have in mind?”

Nott shrugs. “I dunno, rats, birds, something like that?”, she says. Caduceus opens his mouth to answer when Beau snatches the basket and says; “Y’know, there’s plenty of seagulls around… And I gotta say they’re annoying as fuck.”

Nott narrows her eyes and oh gods, Caleb knows that look. “Maybe I’ll catch me some of those then”, she says, grabbing her crossbow and cocking it.   
“You do you, man. As long as you don’t get caught”, Molly says and takes the basket from Beau, earning himself a death glare.

“Don’t worry, I’m very sneaky”, Nott says and runs off. “Be careful!”, Caleb calls after her.

“I will!!”

“Not very good at sitting still, is she?”, Molly asks as he hands Caleb a sandwich. “Definitely not, no”, Caleb says. “Then again, she’s a thief by trade, so who can blame her?”

“She’s a rogue?”, Jester leans in, happily munching on a snack of her own. Caleb nods. “When we met we, uh, we were both rather down on our luck, and when we decided to stick together, her sticky fingers kept us alive. She taught me some stuff as well, but, you know.”

“I don’t know, really”, Jester says. Is she joking or fishing for information? It’s impossible to tell with her. Caleb just shrugs. “It’s not easy, life on the road. If you want something, you’re gonna have to fight for it.”

“Agreed”, Beau says. “Not relying on handouts is one of the first things you learn. The second thing is to only count on yourself.”

She sounds like she’s speaking from experience, something Caleb didn’t exactly expect from her. Then again, nothing is ever the way it seems in this world, so why not?

A distant squawk and triumphant cry signal Nott’s victory, although she doesn’t return.

Once the basket has been picked clean, Jester declares she’s gonna go for another swim despite both Caduceus and Molly telling her to wait a while.

“If you throw up I’m gonna say I told you so!”, Molly shouts. Jester, who is skipping away, yells back; “You’re not my mooom~!!”

“She’s not very good at sitting still either, huh?”, Caleb says. Molly sighs. “I’m honestly surprised she hasn’t run off yet to see the world or something”, he says. “Guess there’s a reason she chose a guy named ‘the Traveler’ as her god of worship.”

Beau gets up. “If you guys need me I’ll be over, uhhh, there-”, she gestures vaguely at a rock formation in the distance “-doing some meditating or whatever. Dairon’s gonna kill me if I don’t, sooo... yeah.”

“Don’t stay out in the sun for too long”, Molly says as Beau walks off. She flips him the bird. “Fuck you, Molly, I can take care of myself!”

“That’s not what happened last time!”

“Screw you!!”

“Love you too, darling!”

“You two have a, ah, hm, interesting relationship”, Caleb says. Molly scoffs. “That’s one way of putting it. But nah, Beau’s a real sweetheart – in her own way. She’s always there for Jester when Fjord’s away, and also willing to fight anyone who so much as looks at her weird. She looks after Jester kind of how Yasha looks after me”, he says.

Caleb’s eyebrows go up. “Wouldn’t have thought that of her, to be honest”, he admits. “Yeah, she’s real piece of work sometimes, but honestly, her swearing is how we know she cares”, Molly grins.

“Anyway, someone needs to go make sure Jester doesn’t float off or something”, he says and stands. “What about you?”

“Ah, I think I’ll stay here for a while. Got my hands on an interesting book recently I’ve been meaning to look at”, Caleb says. “Maybe later.”

As Molly walks off, there’s a few beats of silence before Caduceus says; “So I have a question.”

“I thought you might.”

The firbolg smiles. “Don’t take this personally, but seeing how the last time someone endeared themselves to these people over the course of just a few days, it turned out to be a disguised bronze dragon, so forgive me for being careful”, he says.

Caleb leans back. “No offense taken. So what’s the question?”

“To be honest I have quite a few, but for now I would like to ask if you’d mind if I cast Dispel Magic on you”, Caduceus shrugs. “Just to, you know, make sure you’re not a dragon.”

Caleb snorts. “I assure you my parents were human, but alright, go ahead.”

Caduceus casts the spell and one of the locks on Caleb’s spellbooks snaps open – a clear success.

Caduceus smiles sheepishly. “Well, that puts my mind at ease then”, he says, fishing a sunhat out of his bag and putting it on. “Can I ask another question?”

“Depends on the question.”

“Do you like it here?”

Well. Not exactly what Caleb was expecting. He blinks. “Uhm, ja, I do. Nicodranas is a nice place, a good place, and you and your friends have been very kind to us, which I appreciate. Yeah, I think I like it here”, he says.

There’s a pause before Caduceus says; “They think of you as their friend, you know?”

Now that was _definitely_ unexpected.

“But I’ve only known them for a few days”, Caleb says, confused. “Seems a bit, ehm, hasty?”

Caduceus smiles that trademark bemused smile of his. “They attach themselves pretty quickly. I think you’ve noticed that by now. And I say them, but to be honest, I share the sentiment. As far as we’re concerned, the eight of us are friends”, he says.

To say that Caleb is flabbergasted would be an understatement. “Why- why are you telling me this?”

Again Caduceus shrugs. “I felt you should know. In case you decide to take off without warning, for example.”

Damn, this guy is perceptive. Or is Caleb just that obvious?

He clears his throat. “I- uh- I have no intention of doing so. At least not for now anyway. But, ehm, if it- Should Nott and I decide to leave, I suppose leaving a notice in advance wouldn’t harm anybody”, he says.

Caduceus looks like he wants to say more but a yelp from Jester draws both their attention to the water. Apparently Molly snuck up on her and splashed her with water, causing her to yelp in surprise. She retaliates immediately and soon the two are just throwing water at each other with increasing intensity.

“…I- I will admit, I have grown rather fond of you lot as well”, Caleb says eventually. “I wouldn’t exactly say friends yet, but… I definitely enjoy spending time with you all.”

The moment Caleb says that, he realizes it’s true. Somehow this ragtag band of strange folks have warmed up to him over the course of just a few days.

Vaguely he wonders if that means it’s time to leave.

Then Nott returns, screeching victoriously and holding at least six dead seagulls, grinning from ear to ear.

Or maybe not. Not yet, at least.

For now, Caleb figures he might as well enjoy this tranquility as long as he can.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A conversation that needed to be had, intentions that needed to be set straight.
> 
> In other news, Molly being the mom-friend is fun to write. It gives me life.
> 
> Also the comments you guys leave me. Oof. They're the air in my lungs, the blood in my veins. Please stick with me as I continue to make shit up as I go ^^ (not really, I have an outline.)


	6. Carnival Festival

As the week progresses, Caleb finds himself either in the Chateau or at the beach, sometimes with his study equipment but mostly without, sometimes by choice, sometimes out of necessity due to the heat.

The day before the Midsummer Fest is when Fjord returns, having gained a few more scars and is immediately bombarded with comments and questions and kisses from Jester. Yasha is still nowhere to be found, much to the annoyance of both Molly and Beau.

The evening before the fest the seven of them meet up in the lobby of the Chateau for dinner and they discuss the upcoming events.

Apparently there is something called ‘Death Match’, which – Beau tells Caleb with an enthusiastic shine in her eyes – is apparently some battle royale-style event where different groups are pitched against each other and they fight until there is only one group left standing. Caduceus leans in and reveals that, despite the name, it’s not actually to the death, which eases Caleb’s anxiety only a little.

“We gotta sign up first thing tomorrow”, Beau says. “Else all the good timeslots will be taken. Who the fuck is gonna come and watch during lunchtime? No one is who.”

Molly laughs. “Patience, dear. It can’t possibly be _thàt_ popular”, he says. That earns him a grimace as Beau says; “Uh, yeah it is? Tell him, Jess.”

“Oh gods Molly, you missed it last year but it was _bananas_!”, Jester begins and then rattles off all the things that happened around and during last year’s Death Match. Apparently there were a _lot_ of riots when certain groups got way out of hand. Death Match still continued but was under heavy watch.

“You missed last year?”, Caleb asks. Molly chuckles. “Yeah. I was busy. With _work_ ”, he says, waggling his eyebrows.

“Okay forget I asked anything.”

Molly laughs again. Then he pokes Beau and swats her retaliating hand away. “Reminds me – we did agree that if we’re doing your Death Match, we’re also doing my Bal Masque”, he says. Beau grimaces again.

“Gods, I’d hoped you’d forgotten about that”, she groans. She sighs and rubs the back of her neck. “I think I have some formal wear around still. Dunno about a mask.”

Fjord puts a hand on her shoulder. “They’ll probably be selling those all over anyway, so don’t worry about that. Jester, do you, uh, still have last year’s masks?”

“I have mine still.” Her cheeky grin makes Caleb wonder what sort of mask it is, then decides that knowing Jester, he doesn’t want to know. “Why?”

“I really liked mine and I dunno if they sell it again this year. Do you still have that one as well?”, Fjord asks and Jester nods happily. “Of course! I’ll bring it tomorrow, alright?”

There’s a soft pressure as someone leans against Caleb. Mollymauk grins at him. “What about you, mister Caleb? Will you be joining us on these endeavors?”, he asks.

“Ehm, was? Death Match and the masked ball?”, Caleb counters, not sure if he understood correctly. “If I’ll participate in either?”

Molly nods. “If you want to, of course.”

“I do”, Caleb says quickly, surprising both Mollymauk and himself. “I- I mean, we don’t know anything about the Fest, so sticking with you guys seems like the best option”, he adds, pretending not to see Jester’s giant smirk.

“Oh yeah, that’s true”, Molly says. “Forgive my prying then, but do you have anything for the Bal Masque or do we need to go shopping?”

Caleb looks at Nott. Nott looks at Caleb. “Uh-”

“Shopping it is”, Molly laughs and Jester cheers. “Yes!! I’ll show you guys all my favorite shops, don’t even worry about it!”, she says.

“Do we have time for that? I thought we needed to get good slots?”, Nott asks. Fjord leans in. “The ball is on the second day, so no worries. We’ll do Death Match and then get you guys something nice. Sound good?”

Notts nods happily and Caleb nods as well, albeit a tad more hesitantly.

\--

The next morning arrives with a ton of fanfare - literally, startling Caleb and Nott awake.

 “What in the-”, Nott mumbles as she goes to look out the window. “Oh! Caleb, Caleb! It’s a parade, Caleb!”

Caleb joins her and they both watch the parade of flowery carts and the performers dancing around them. There is music and cheering and a general lovely atmosphere, despite the early hour.

One glob of color stands out and Caleb opens the window. “Guten morgen, you lot!”, he calls. He doesn’t know how, but he is heard and the group from the Chateau waves at him. “Good morning yourself, mister Caleb”, Molly calls back and Jester screeches; “GOOD MORNING CALEB!! GOOD MORNING NOTT!”

“Jester, hi!!!”, Nott yells back, waves wildly. “We’ll be right there, give us a moment!”

“Take your time!”, Fjord says. Caleb closes the window again.

“That’s nice of them to come get us”, Nott says as she pulls on her boots and makes sure her mask is in place. Caleb slips his coat on, then changes his mind and decides to leave it – it’s already too warm for that, and with that many people on the streets it’ll only get warmer. “Yeah, very kind of them”, he says. They manage to get some food to go and head out into the crowd.

The group isn’t hard to spot, what with Caduceus towering over the townsfolk. Beside him is Yasha with her arm around Beau’s shoulders, who in return has hers wrapped around Yasha’s waist. The normally scary monk lady looks positively radiant and Caleb decides he likes her better with Yasha around. He raises a hand in greeting, a gesture which Caduceus returns.

“The party is getting started rather early, no?”, Caleb asks. Beau scoffs. “They’re late, actually. The parade should’ve started two hours ago”, she says. “Some trouble with bees, I heard.” She claps her hands. “So! Let’s go get a spot at Death Match before the good ones are gone!”

\--

When they arrive at the arena, it’s already completely packed with people. Beau curses. “There’s no getting through”, she grumbles.

Nott makes a thinking noise, then gives Caleb’s hand a tug. “Do you have a pen or chalk or something?”, she asks. Caleb nods and he finds a piece of broken charcoal in his back pocket.

The moment he hands it to her, Nott zips off.

“What is she up to?”, comes Molly’s voice from the right. “She’s gonna get us a spot”, Caleb says, not without a small, proud smile. “She’s an awesome rogue after all.”

Nott returns after a few minutes, a little out of breath but otherwise alright. “I got us a spot! In two hours from now!”, she declares proudly.

Jester whoops and lifts Nott up high. “You go Nott!! You’re the best rogue eveeeer!!!”, she shouts and Nott beams. When she’s put down, Caleb tousles her hair. “Well done. I’m proud of you”, he says. Nott’s grin gets almost impossibly wide.

“Did you give up a group name?”, Beau asks. Nott shakes her head. “Was I supposed to?”, she says.

“Nah”, says Beau. “We can always give one later.” She grimaces. “I would like something other than what we had last year, though…”

“What were you called last year?”, Caleb asks. Beau groans and Jester giggles. “The Sapphire’s Gang”, the tiefling says. “Beau haaaated it, especially when Ophelia found out.”

“Why? It’s a good name”, Nott says. Jester giggles again. “Well, according to Ophelia it meant we were-”

“Can we not talk about her right now? Thanks”, Beau interrupts.

“Right, sorry Beau.”

“It’s okay Jessie.”

“So”, Fjord says. “Two hours to kill. Where to first?”

\--

They decide to split up and meet back at the arena in two hours, Jester and Fjord going off to watch another parade, and Yasha and Beau to warm up with an armwrestling match, leaving Caleb, Nott, Molly and Caduceus to find something to amuse themselves until Death Match.

Molly gets sidetracked by a flower cart at one point and after a few moments returns with flowers in his pockets and hair, grinning widely. “Best part of this party, if you ask me”, he says. “Want any?”

They all end up with some flowers in the end, Nott with daises, Caduceus with violets and Caleb, despite his initial hesitation, with forget-me-nots. Nott smiles at him. “They look good on you, Caleb”, she says.

“Th-thank you, yours look good too”, he says. Notts smile widens before she spots something out of the corner of her eye. “Oh, oh, Caleb!! That looks like archery! Can we go look??”, she asks excitedly.

“Sure”, Caleb nods and they begin to make their way over to the crowd along the shooting range. There’s a standkeeper shouting; “Come hither, come hither, friends, to test your skills in this archery challenge! Can you make through all three rounds and win the prize?! Come find out!”

Nott immediately worms her way through the crowd, waving and yelling; “ME! ME! I wanna try!!”, crossbow at the ready. The man points at her. “I like your enthusiasm, little lady! Alright folks, we have our first candidate, who else?!”

Seven other people volunteer, at which point the standkeeper declares all the spots filled and continues with the rules; “Any long range weapon as long as it’s non-magical is allowed, the number of contestants gets halved with each round, meaning we have a winner at the end of round three. You all get three shots per round. Understood? Good. Ready? Go!”

By the time he’s finished explaining this, the other three have made their way a little closer to the front of the crowd to get a better view. “Go Nott!!”, Caleb shouts. “Yeah, show them how we do things around here!”, Molly adds. Caleb looks at him quizzically and the tiefling shrugs. “That’s the sort of thing you yell at games like these, no?”

Arrows fly, each either hitting the targets with resounding _thunk_ s or clattering onto the ground. Points are counted and arrows are collected and round two begins.

Nott’s first two arrows hit nicely and for the third she shoots it from behind her back. It hits dead center and the crowd cheers. Molly whistles. “Trick-shot I see. She’s got style.”

“She does”, Caleb says as he waves at Nott, who happily waves back.

Round three comes around and Nott is faced with a white-haired gentleman, although he doesn’t seem old. Maybe it’s fashion where he’s from.

They shake hands and the standkeeper shouts; “Ready? Fire!”

_Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!_

Three constructive hits from both them. Nott blinks up at her opponent and smirks. “Not bad, sir.”

The man returns the expression and spins his heavy crossbow. “You’re not bad yourself, young lady.”

“It seems we have a tie!”, the organizer says. “Another round! Ready! Fire!”

_Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!_

Again they both hit the dead center of their respective targets. The standkeeper goes over, hems and has for a bit, then returns with a sheepish grin. “Uh… it’s… still a tie?” He looks at both Nott and the white haired gentleman. “I suppose we could continue ad infinitum, or call it quits here?”

“I’m fine with a tie if you are”, the man says. Nott hums for a bit, then extends a hand. “Sure. It’s been a nice challenge”, she says. As the man goes to shake her hand, her crossbow-wielding hand shoots out and-

_Shunk!_

In the center of her target, splitting a previous bolt in half, she’s shot another arrow. “I’m just a bit sneakier though”, Nott adds.

The crowd roars and the man laughs. “Alright, I suppose I accept defeat!”, he says. He shakes her hand for real this time. “You’ve got a good eye. Should you ever find yourself near Whitestone, ask for De Rolo and I’ll get you something even better than a crossbow.”

“Better than a crossbow?”

The man grins. “Ever heard of guns?”

\--

The prize turns out to be a reasonable sum of gold and some enchanted arrows. Nott hums under her breath as they walk around some more. “That was fun”, she says.

“It was, you did great”, Caleb says. “I’m proud of you.”

“Great trick-shot, by the way. And how you got the drop on that guy! Beau’s gonna be pissed she missed that”, Molly says. Nott beams.

The rest of the time is spent hopping from stand to stand, trying different games and winning some small prizes. Caleb ends up with a stuffed animal shaped like a cat, which he puts in his back pocket.

They encounter Jester and Fjord at a candied apple stand and together the six of them make their way back to the arena when it’s time. Beau and Yasha are already waiting.

“Did you get some for me as well?”, Yasha asks and Molly nods, gestures for her to bend down and puts some wildflowers in her hair. “Of course I did, darling, there’s no way I’d forget”, he says.

His smile turns cheeky as he looks at Beau, who glares. “No way”, she says. “Nuh-uh, not happening. That’s a level of weird I’m not ready for.”

“And if I do it?”, Yasha says.

“…I’d be okay with that.”

Even though she’s pouting, Beau doesn’t complain about the tiger lilies.

\--

Finally it’s their turn. “Names?”, asks the guard at the door. They all look at Nott.

“Ah, uhm, Nott and Caleb and Beau and Jester and Fjord and-”, she begins before the guard interrupts her; “Yeah, yeah, I see you. Move along then.”

“So what should we call ourselves?”, Jester asks as they enter the waiting room. “Something cool, for sure.”

“For sure”, Beau nods. “I was thinking ‘mighty’-something?”

“The Mighty Gang? Nah. The Mighty… Eight? Uhhh…”, Jester starts thinking out loud. Fjord chuckles. “Sounds a bit cheesy, don’t it?”

“I knooow, I’m tryiiiiing~”

“Mighty Nein?”

“Nein?”, Molly echoes and Caleb nods. “It means ‘no’ in Zemnian, but sounds like the Common ‘nine’”, he says. “It’s a pun.”

“There’s only eight of us though”, Caduceus says. Beau begins to bounce a little. “Oh, it could be kinda like- “where’s your last member?” “oh, they’re definitely around” like- Keep ‘em on the edge? Or it could just be an ironic thing. Also ‘Mighty No’, I like that a _lot_ ”, she says.

“Mighty Nein it is”, Fjord says. Jester cheers and Caleb hopes he’s not turning too red right now.

As Beau and Jester go off to notify the officials of their newly chosen name, Caleb finds a place to sit down while they wait. He takes out the stuffed cat and appreciates it for a bit. It kinda reminds him of Frumpkin, who’s back at the inn guarding their possessions. Before that the fey cat had been patrolling the streets, keeping out an eye for potentional danger. Kind of a shame Frumpkin can’t be here right now, but someone’s gotta keep an eye out.

He runs a finger across the fuzzy head and tries to calm himself. They’ve never fought for entertainment before. It’s always ever been about survival. This, this is different. Caleb doesn’t know if he’s up for it.

Movement beside him catches his attention; Mollymauk has pulled up a chair as well. “Nervous?”, he asks.

_Gods, are they all mindreaders?_

“Y-yeah, kinda. I’ve never- never done this sort of thing before. I’m a little anxious”, Caleb says.

Molly pats him on the shoulder. “Just don’t kill anyone. They’ve got healers on standby, injuries mean nothing as long as there aren’t any limbs flying off”, he says.

_That doesn’t help at all._

“Thanks, that helps a bit”, Caleb says.

Molly pats his shoulder again, right as a staff member shouts; “Mighty Nein, you’re up!”

Molly grins at Caleb. “Showtime.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More bonding, yay! I really loved the canon festival episodes so I just HAD to write one of my own ^^ 
> 
> Next chapter; Death Match. Buckle up.


	7. Here Come The Runts

As they step up to the arena’s entrance, the full weight of what he’s doing comes crashing down on Caleb. He has _no idea_ what skills any of these people have, aside from Nott. Sure, he can make some guesses – Beau and Yasha look like they can hit stuff real hard, Jester mentioned spells she learned from a god and Molly, well- their first meeting _did_ involve the tiefling swinging a set of swords around, so there’s that – but Fjord and Caduceus? Not a goddamn clue.

Caleb tries not to groan too loud. _This is fine. Everything is fine. What the fuck am I doing._

He’s never fought for entertainment before, at least not this type of entertainment. A thought crosses his mind and he quickly leans in close towards Nott. “Aim to hurt, not kill, alright?”, he whispers. Nott nods. “Got it.”

“ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLRIGHT!! FAIR FOLK OF NICODRANAS, ARE YOU READY FOR! THE ONE! THE ONLY! DEATH MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATCH?!!!”

The announcer’s voice fills the air and Caleb flinches. What sort of spell are they using to amplify the sound like this? Then he notices the announcer is a dragonborn and doesn’t wonder anymore.

The crowd cheers and roars and stomps their feet, matching the dragonborn’s volume.

“Hahaha! I hear you, I hear you, Nicodranas! Well then! To our contestants for the hour!”

He gestures to the end of the arena opposite from the Mighty Nein. A gate slides open and a group walks out – a human, an elf, a dwarf, a drow and a goliath. This time Caleb does groan – they look really tough.

Immediately Nott’s hand is in his and she squeezes it before tracing a symbol. _All set?_

He writes back; _acknowledged._ Nott’s hand slips away again, going for her crossbow.

“Allow me to reintroduce last year’s favorites-”, the crowd cheers “-from the Dwendalian Empire: cunning and unmatched; the! Wildemount! Crusheeeeeeeeeers!!!”

The crowd roars again and the staff member gestures at their group right as their gate slides open. They step out and the announcer shouts; “And returning to us from last year as well, with a new name and new members; the! Mighty! Neiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin!!!”

Beau cracks her knuckles. “I’m so fucking ready”, she mutters.

“Now! A quick reminder of the rules – no killing and no loss of limbs permitted. Last group standing wins. Got that? ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLRIGHT!! DEATH MATCH COMMENCES IN 3! 2! 1!”

_“GO!”_

Beau is immediately out of the gates, taking a leap and latching onto the goliath, taking out her staff and swatting him upside the head.

Yasha is right behind her, unsheathing her greatsword with a roar and swinging it in a destructive arc, catching the goliath across the chest, who roars in return and manages to grab a hold of Beau, throwing her off and against the wall.

A flash and suddenly there is a falchion in Fjord’s hand. He turns it handle-up and the pommel glows before unleashing a bolt of dark, crackling lightning which he aims at the drow. Their dwarven teammate raises their shield and the bolt glances off. Fjord curses before having to dodge a swing from the dwarf’s warhammer.

“Oh no you don’t!” Jester yells and _wham!_ Suddenly the dwarf flies through the air. Jester makes a hand motion and her spectral lollipop twirls a full 360 degrees. She grins and waves. “I gotchu Fjord!!” Fjord waves back.

The drow shouts a spell word and flings a bolt of energy at Nott, who dodges out of the way and shoots a crossbow bolt in retaliation, hitting the drow in the leg, who curses.

_Wait, where’s the elf?_

Caleb has just enough time to think that before becoming aware of metal hitting metal and he turns around. Ah, there’s the elf, twin swords blocked by Molly’s own scimitars. The tiefling grins. “Not so fast, darling. First you gotta get past me”, he says. Then he mutters something in what Caleb assumes to be Infernal and the elf leaps back with a yelp, eyes suddenly black.

Mollymauk turns to Caleb and winks. “I got this one, mister Caleb, don’t you worry”, he says. Caleb nods and looks around to find the human member of the Crushers. _There!_

A snap of his fingers and the human shouts as a fireball nearly misses their head. They look at Caleb, eyes narrowed, before shouting a spell of their own. It breaks harmlessly off of the Shield Caleb throws up.

Caduceus has made his way over to Beau, checking for injuries and slamming his staff into the ground. There is a buzz and a horde of beetles emerges from the staff – a Blight Staff, Caleb now recognizes. They settle on the goliath, who begins swatting at them and cursing, stepping into Yasha’s range, who immediately takes another swing and hits.

Beau takes this opportunity and gets in three constructive hits, one against the chin, one in the chest and one in the gut. The goliath doubles over, giving Yasha the chance to grab him and throw him away. He hits the wall with a loud thud and Yasha yells; “Payback!!”

The goliath is now obviously dazed – almost unable to keep his footing and with the beetles all over him, he looks seconds away from passing out.

Fjord is locked in furious combat with the dwarf, each one of his strikes getting either blocked or countered. Fjord then suddenly vanishes with a clap of thunder, reappearing a few feet away. He raises his weapon high, says something in a horrible, eldritch tongue and then reality cracks in half, a demon stepping through.

The crowd screams and Beau shouts: “WHAT THE FUCK, FJORD?!”

“I panicked!”, he calls back.

“WHOOO!!! GO FJORD!!”, Jester cheers.

The announcer says something but unfortunately Caleb is too focused on the _fucking demon_ to register what exactly. All the classes in the world and Fjord turns out to be a _fucking warlock_ of all things.

_This is fine. Everything is fine._

The demon, however, doesn’t seem interested in the dwarf and instead focuses on the goliath, leaping forward and raking its claws across his chest. The goliath shouts in pain before falling sideways – out for the count.

The dwarf rushes over, swinging their warhammer and hitting the demon in the gut, knocking it back a few feet. “Not today, hellspawn!”, they yell and the crowd cheers.

Jester whoops and swings her Spiritual Weapon at the dwarf, but gets blocked by the drow, who waves a hand and suddenly the lollipop disappears. “Hey!!”, Jester protests.

Nott notices the demon, screams and shoots at it right as Fjord yells; “Nott, wait, it’s on our side!”

The bolt catches the creature right between the eyes and it falls backwards, disappearing in a puff of smoke.

“Nott, what the hell!?”, Fjord shouts and Nott screams; “That was a fucking demon, what was I _supposed_ to do!?”

Molly laughs from where he’s locked in combat with the elf. “That’s a good point, you have to admit!” His opponent takes their chance now that Molly’s attention is elsewhere and manages to stab Molly in the shoulder, who groans and pulls back.

_Fwoom!_

A wall of fire roars to life between them, forcing the elf back. There’s a smell of singed hair and cotton in the air.

Molly waves. “Thank you!”, he calls and Caleb waves back before turning his attention back to his own opponent, dodging their strike just in time. They’re only a few feet apart now and the human spins their dagger. “Where the hell did you train? They don’t teach you that shit just anywhere”, they ask.

_Ah, what the hell. Might as well scare them_ , Caleb thinks and says; “Soltryce.” It has the desired effect; the other steps back as if Caleb summoned another Wall of Fire. “What the fuck?! Then why are you _here?!”_

“That’s a bit personal, don’t you think?”

The human turns to find Caduceus behind them, who smiles pleasantly. There’s a burst of fire and the human is flung back out of range.

Caleb looks at Caduceus. “Th-thank you. H-how much did- did you, uh, hear?”, he asks. Caduceus still smiles bemusedly. “Oh, not a whole lot, just that last part”, the firbolg says. “Are you alright?”

Caleb nods. “Y-yeah, thank you, again.” Caduceus nods in return and then moves over to where Molly is.

Beau has taken up to hitting the dwarf with her staff – there’s not a whole lot else she can do, since the dwarf is heavily armored. She curses. “Fucking- shit!”

Yasha yells and suddenly there are two skeletal wings flaring out from behind her. The crowd screams again and Yasha swings her sword at the dwarf, who raises their shield only just in time. No damage done, but they do get blown back.

 

Jester, who took advantage of the drow’s attention shifting to their dwarven teammate, slaps them on the shoulder and they cry out as a dozen small wounds open up all over their body. She grins as they step back and she dances out of the way of the lightning sent her way.

_Whack!_

The drow gets slapped to the side by a green, spectral hand. Nott barks a short laugh. “Never ignore the rogue!”, she shouts and Jester skips over to her for a high-five. The drow groans, tries to get up, but then falls to the ground again.

“AND THAT’S TWO! CAN THE MIGHTY NEIN BE STOPPED? I AM NOT SURE!”

The crowd cheers and stomps their feet again in response to the announcer.

The elf curses, tosses their swords aside and claps their hands together.

_BOOM!_

A giant shockwave rumbles through the arena, knocking almost everyone off their feet. Beau falls against the wall, hits her head and collapses with a groan. Nott screeches as she gets blown into Jester and they both yelp as they fall over.

“WHOOPS! SPOKE TOO SOON!!”

“Beau!”, Yasha yells.

“Fucker-!”, Molly growls, points at the elf and shouts something in Infernal. Jester, who had been getting up, falls back again as she cackles – whatever it was Molly said, it apparently wasn’t as threatening as it sounded. Ice shards rain down on the elf, who dodges most of them but not all.

Caleb sees the human creep up on Jester and Nott, who are just now getting up, and aims. A fire bolt shoots across the arena and hits them square in the chest. They yell and stumble back, looking rough but still standing. In response, they raise a hand and a dark wave of force rushes towards Caleb.

Something tugs at him from behind as he is pulled back and an opposing wave of force dispels the magic. Caduceus puts Caleb back down. “Careful now. That looked really nasty”, he says.

Yasha rushes over to the elf, her sword swung in a wide arc. It is dodged and the elf grabs one of their own swords and hits Yasha in the side. She cries out in pain.

Fjord curses and takes a swing with his own weapon, catching the elf in the shoulder and making them drop their weapon.

The dwarf sees their chance and goes to hit Yasha with their warhammer. It catches her in the gut, knocking the wind out of her and she falls to the ground.

“Yasha!”, Fjord yells at the same time Molly shouts: “Motherfucker!!”

_Shunk!_

A crossbow bolt sticks out of a gap in the dwarf’s armor and they curse. Nott aims again. “Hey! Over here!”, she shouts and shoots again, this time getting deflected by the shield.

The elf rushes over to Molly, who leaps out of the way, swings his swords in a curve and getting in a solid hit before looking over at the dwarf, who yelps suddenly before falling over. Molly grins, then sways and goes down himself.

Caleb blinks. Whatever magic Molly is using, it’s unlike anything he’s seen before. He’ll _definitely_ ask the tiefling later, once this is over. For now, he shoots another firebolt at the human, who dodges and replies with a firebolt of their own. Caleb doesn’t step aside fast enough and it hits him in the shoulder.

He stumbles, regains his balance and groans. _This is nothing. It’s nothing._

Caduceus points his staff and a burst of light shoots out. It hits and the human goes down as well. “Are you alright?”, he asks. Caleb nods. “I’m fine. Let’s just- get this over with.”

Fjord’s Eldritch Blast misses but Jester’s Spiritual Weapon does connect, sending the elf flying through the air and falling back onto the ground next to their goliath teammate. They groan, stand up, and then fall over again.

“AND THAT! IS! THAT! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, FAIR FOLK OF NICODRANAS, THE MATCH HAS BEEN DECIDED! PLEASE GIVE IT UP FOR OUR WINNERS OF THE HOUR; THE! MIGHTY! NEIN!!”

The crowd erupts into wild cheering and stomping their feet again and Caleb wonders how long until the bleachers give out. That’s gotta happen eventually, right?

Those of them still on their feet – Fjord, Jester, Nott, Caleb and Caduceus – take a bow before letting the healers take the field.

\--

“CHEERS!!!”

The Mighty Nein finds themselves in a tavern not too long after that. They’re all kinda sore and exhausted, but there’s still some adrenaline left that keeps them from collapsing entirely. Tankards clunk together as they celebrate their victory.

“I repeat; what the _fuck_ , Fjord?”, Beau says from where she’s settled against Yasha. “A demon, fucking really?”

“Like I said, I panicked! We clearly needed some backup!”, Fjord says as Jester worms her way under his arm, snuggling up. “It was really badass, Fjord, but also a little scary”, she says.

“I dunno what you’re all talking about, that was the most awesome shit I’ve seen in my life”, Molly says. He has his arm across the backrest of their booth’s bench and Caleb tries to not notice when it slips onto his shoulders. They’re all a little drunk and by now he’s learned that Molly doesn’t shy away from physical contact. Besides, it’s not doing any harm, so Caleb doesn’t mention it.

“You don’t get to say shit about shit, mr. Voodoo Blood Magic”, Beau says and Molly happily flips her off. “Voodoo blood magic?”, Nott echoes. Molly takes a swig and says; “Yeah. Dunno how or when I got it, but I can control other people’s blood to a certain extend. Make ‘em blind, make ‘em pass out. It’s pretty handy.”

“That’s fucking scary.”

Molly laughs. “You’re not the first to say so! Should’ve seen Beau’s fucking face when she first saw it!”, he says. Beau finishes her drink in one big gulp and slams the tankard down. “His fucking blood turned to _ice!_ Like? What in the whole _fuck?!_ ”, she exclaims. “You’re fucking insane and I hope you know that.”

Molly laughs again and raises his tankard. “Cheers darling, I’ll drink to that!” And he does.

\--

They spend most of their evening in the tavern, deciding to push the shopping to tomorrow. They participate in a small drinking contest at one point where Jester passes out nearly immediately, Beau gets incredibly sick but holds it together and Caleb surprises everyone by actually winning the contest.

“Caaa~leeeb~ teach me your secreeetsss~”, Jester says once she’s back up and running. Beau groans, holding her head with one hand and the other on Yasha’s arm. “I bet it’s the Zemnian heritage, I fucking bet”, she grumbles.

Caleb, whose head feels pleasantly empty and buzzing right now, grins. “Sure, let’s keep it at that”, he says and finishes his… actually he’s lost track of how much he’s drank over the evening. He hums a little under his breath. This is really nice, just hanging out and laughing about nothing with his friends.

Friends?

…Yeah. Friends.

Somewhere, a chair goes flying and Nott screeches, followed by Jester’s cheering, Molly’s laughing and Fjord’s desperate attempts at placating them. It doesn’t work and Caleb laughs as Nott herself goes flying, shrieking and throwing whatever she can at whoever she’s fighting.

He lets himself fall against Mollymauk, who grins at him. “Having fun, mister Caleb?”, he asks and Caleb nods. “It ha- it has been a while since I have gone out like this”, he says. “It’s fun, I’m having a good time.”

“GO NOTT!!”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!”

Caleb laughs again as Nott frantically slides under tables and climbs up the walls to dodge the large man she’s picked a barfight with. He can’t help it, it’s just so funny. The whole scene eventually leaves him gasping for breath with tears in his eyes. “I should- I should probably stop her”, he says.

“Yes please!”, Fjord calls out, exasperated, and fuck, there he goes again. Everything is just hilarious to Caleb right now. “Nott- Nott, hey, Nott!”

“Yes?!”

Caleb looks at her, at the man, at Fjord, back at Nott and grins, giving her a thumbs up. “Kick his fucking ass.”

Nott screeches again, launching herself back into the fray and Fjord slams his head into the table while Jester nearly dies cackling maniacally.

Caleb can feel Molly shuddering with laughter beside him. “You’re such an enabler, I love it!”, the tiefling says, grin wide on his face.

“What can I say, we don’t often let loose like this, doing stupid things. It’s a nice change of pace”, Caleb says.

“You’re surprisingly eloquent for a drunk man.”

Caleb laughs again. “I am a man of many surprises, mister Mollymauk”, he says.

“I’ve noticed.” Caleb feels the chuckle more than that he hears it. “Although you seem to be at your limit right now?”

_Oh, is that a challenge?_

Caleb turns around, using his one arm to lean on Molly’s shoulder. Any space between them is practically non-existent and Caleb notices Molly’s eyes go wide. “Hmm, I think I still have a few up my sleeve”, he says. “How about we do something stupid?”

“Depends”, Molly replies, clearly recovering from the shift in the wizard’s demeanor. “How stupid are we talking?”

“I was thinking we make out a lil’?”

Molly laughs. “Okay, that sounds like something you’d regret the next morning, no thank you”, he says.

“Like I could regret anything that involves you.”

Molly’s smile turns a bit softer as he takes Caleb’s empty pint and puts in on the table. “Seems to me you’ve had enough to drink for tonight. Come on, let’s get you to bed”, he says and stands up.

“Only if you stick around.” Caleb has no idea where the words keep coming from but it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter, everything feels great right now. He feels better than he has in years.

“Much as I appreciate the offer, I have a strict ‘no-drunks’-policy. Those not in full control of their actions make terrible decisions”, Molly says, smile still there although his tone is a bit more serious. He slings one of Caleb’s arms around his shoulder and hoists the man up. “C’mon. You need to rest.”

\--

Caleb hums and sings little fragments of songs under his breath as the two of them make their way to the inn.

Eventually they reach the room Caleb and Nott rented and Caleb drops down on the bed, drowsiness immediately overtaking him. Molly sits down on the bed next to him. “How’re you feeling?”

Caleb hums. “Still pretty good. Tired. You were amazing in that arena.”

Mollymauk smiles. “Thank you very much, mister Caleb. You weren’t too bad yourself, what with the fire flying left and right.”

Caleb rolls over, buries his arms under a pillow. “I don’t even like fire that much. It was mostly instinct. Is your blood magic a result of your undying?”, he asks. Molly goes quiet for a bit. “…I can only assume. I had no scars when I woke up, so if I had any magic before that it wasn’t blood-related.”

He stands up. “I should probably head back before those fucking idiots burn the place down.” He’s stopped, however, by Caleb grabbing his coat. “I was- I was serious, you know. I would like you to stay here”, Caleb says. He feels sleep creeping up on him and has to actively try to stay awake.

Molly’s gaze goes from Caleb to the door, to the floor, back to Caleb. Then he smiles and sits back down. “Alright. As long as you don’t do anything stupid.”

“Have I ever?”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

Caleb gives a tired laugh. He hums again as Molly lays down.

“What song is that?”

“Oh, an old song from my hometown. I only remember a bit.”

“Would you mind letting me hear?”

_Ach, why the fuck not?_

Caleb rolls onto his back, pushes himself up just a little. The words come out slightly slurred and his volume is irregular, but he manages a bit.

_“Komm jetzt, oh feuriger Vogel, und sing der Zerstörung, oh, sing vom Ende bitte_  
Komm jetzt, oh feuriger Vogel, und erwecke mich wieder. Oh, erwecke mich wieder bitte  
Brenne, brenne, brenne, oh großer Vogel des Feuers  
Oh großer Vogel des Feuers, verbrenne mich so kann ich von dir wiederbelebt werden”

It’s a three-quarter pace and by the second line Molly is tapping it out on the mattress. Then the last word trails off and Caleb slides back until he’s staring up at the ceiling again. “It’s been a while since I sang out loud like that.”

“You have a nice voice, mister Caleb.”

“Thank you very much, mister Mollymauk.”

Caleb turns his head to look at the tiefling, who grins at him. Caleb grins back. And that’s when sleep finally takes him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I know I updated recently but LISTEN this is my FAVORITE chapter- I had so much fun writing this like oh my god-
> 
> I didn't roll initiative for the battle exactly, but I did maintain an order. It made it so much easier to write, good gods.
> 
> Also the translation for the 'Zemnian' singing is;   
> "Now come, oh fiery bird, and sing of destruction, oh, please sing of the end  
> Now come, oh fiery bird, and resurrect me. Oh, please resurrect me  
> Burn, burn, burn, oh great bird of fire  
> Oh great bird of fire, burn me so I can be revived by you"


	8. Masks and Clothes

When Caleb wakes up, it’s with pins in his eyes and daggers in his brain and he immediately groans. He’s done it again – three in the fucking morning. Again. And with a hangover this time. Great.

He shifts experimentally, stretching his legs, looking for a small body somewhere nearby but doesn’t find anything. Either Nott is still out or she’s with Jester and the rest of them. Rest of the Mighty Nein? Gods, he hopes that name doesn’t stick too long.

There is something else, however – a weight draped over him that takes him a second to register as Molly’s arm.

Oh. So that’s happened again as well. Hm.

Caleb sighs. He’s really starting to have questions about this situation that’s happened twice now. How come he never wakes up? Which of them initiates the contact? Is it even a conscious choice? He wonders if Molly knows.

He shifts again, trying to wiggle out from under the arm without disturbing the tiefling too much, and curses as one bleary red eye blinks open at him. “Hmmmornin’…”, Molly mumbles.

“Ah, sorry, I- I noticed we had gotten a little- ah- sorry I woke you, I just figured I’d give you a bit more- bit more space”, Caleb whispers as softly as he can. Mollymauk hums again. “Hmmsokay, I don’- Jus’- keepin’ the nightmares away, y’know?”

_Wait. What?_

“I- I’m sorry, what?”, Caleb asks but the one open eye slips closed, the breathing evens out. Molly has fallen asleep again without bothering to let go of Caleb, whose mind is now going a hundred miles per hour. How does Mollymauk know about his nightmares? Has he been talking in his sleep? How much has he said? Oh gods, how much does Mollymauk know now?

Anxiety rears its head and Caleb’s breathing speeds up. He should’ve left the moment that thought first occurred to him, back on the beach. No, he should have left earlier. It should have just been a one-time visit, they should have just left town after that, they should have- he should have-

A small form slumps against his back and begins vibrating – Frumpkin.

Caleb gasps, snapping back into focus, trying to ground himself.

There’s the cat against his back, purring loudly, there’s a beam of moonlight coming from the crack between the shutters, a bright stripe of white in an otherwise dark room. And of course there’s Mollymauk, just a few inches away with an arm draped over Caleb and sleeping soundly.

Maybe he’s looking too much into this. Mollymauk could have been speaking about nightmares in general. It didn’t mean Caleb talked in his sleep or anything like that. It could be nothing, just another aspect of Molly’s casual intimacy he seemed to share with his friends.

Caleb wonders if that’s the case. Caleb _hopes_ that’s the case.

He hasn’t even told Nott, so the idea of a stranger knowing about that side of him is… well, unsettling would be putting it kindly.

He yawns, tries to see outside. The moon hangs low in the sky and sunrise is just a few hours away. Dammit. Why does this keep happening?

He looks at his hands. He’s still shaking, even though his breathing has calmed. He looks at Mollymauk. It’s hard to make out his features but even in the dim light he can see the peacock tattoo and curve of a horn. Maybe…

Caleb shifts a little closer, stopping when Molly inhales deeply, but doesn’t wake up. “Hope you don’t mind me returning the gesture…”, Caleb mumbles as he reaches across and puts a hand underneath the tiefling’s shoulder blades. His head rests against Molly’s other shoulder and he silently apologizes for the pins and needles that will certainly be there in the morning.

“If this is your idea of keeping the nightmares at bay, then… please”, he mutters as he closes his eyes again. He faintly registers the smell of sun and smoke and flowers and how calming it is before drifting off.

\--

The pins and daggers have mostly disappeared when Caleb wakes up for the second time. The white streak of moonlight has been replaced by the sun’s yellow glow and there’s the sound of seagulls and people coming from outside.

Aaand he’s still laying flush against Mollymauk.

Part of him screams at him to move away, while another part is wholly content with just staying here, warm and comfortable. That, in combination with the faint hangover, sends his head spinning and he groans.

“And good morning to you, mister Caleb”, an amused voice says. Caleb pulls back a little and looks at Molly, who’s currently grinning at him. “How are you feeling?”

“Like shit”, Caleb says and moves to sit up but groans again as a stab shoots through his head. “Gods, how much did I- did I drink last night?”

“Too much it seems”, Molly says and goes to sit up straight, then grabs his left arm. “Oh shit- oh gods- fuck, that hurts, thaaat hurts! Hooo boy-”

“Sorry”, Caleb mumbles. Molly waves his hand. “Eh, it’s my own fault for sleeping on my side”, he says. “Still- if it hurt that much, you could just move me aside”, Caleb says. “Sh- uh- should it happen again- fuck.” _Smooth, Widogast. Real smooth._

Molly laughs. “Aww, but you looked so cute! I couldn’t find it in my heart!”

Caleb turns red, then quickly stands up, ignores the wave of dizziness that causes and says; “E-ehm, No- Nott- Nott didn’t come back I see- Did- did Jester- send any sort of, uhm, message?”

Molly scoops up Frumpkin and begins scratching the fey cat behind the ears, receiving pleased purring in return. “Yeah, somewhere around two in the goddamn morning. Guess they’ve been wreaking havoc across the local bars for a while. They’re at the Chateau right now. Marion set her up with a room for the night. That’s all I got before Jess reached the word limit on her spell.”

“Should we, ehhh, go to them? See how they’re doing”, Caleb says, finding a wet cloth to drag across his face and a glass of water. It helps a little.

“Absolutely”, Molly says, standing up and putting Frumpkin on his shoulders, who curls up and resumes the purring. _Cats,_ Caleb thinks, _ridiculous creatures._

\--

The lobby of the Chateau is pretty much deserted when they get there, which isn’t too surprising considering the partying that went down the night before. Molly scoffs. “Those fucking idiots.”

He leads both of them to a room on the first floor and knocks on the door. A woman’s voice answers; “Yes, who is it?”

“Tis but your darling Amethyst, Marion. Would you mind opening up?”, Molly says.

The woman goes quiet and the door opens. The red-skinned tiefling woman before them is almost objectively beautiful, rubbing sleep out of her eyes and blinking up at them. “Ah, Mollymauk, good morning. And I assume this is Caleb? Nice to meet you”, she says and extends a hand, which Caleb shakes. “Nice to meet you too”, he replies.

“Are you here for Jester?”, the Ruby of the Sea asks and Molly nods. “If you don’t mind, darling.”

She smiles and opens the door further. “Just be quiet, they’re all pretty hung over”, Marion says. Molly snickers. “Of course they are.”

Marion points to a door leading in the back of her room. “They wanted a sleepover so I’ve arranged for them to stay in Jester’s old room”, she says, then frowns a little. “I told them to be careful, but nooo…”, she says, more to herself than to her visitors. Molly chuckles and kisses her on the cheek. “Ah, you know what they say, kids always think they’re immortal”, he says.

He then throws open the door to the shared room and yells; “WAKE THE FUCK UP, ESTEEMED MOTHERS AND FUCKERS OF THE MIGHTY NEIN!!”

There’s a chorus of groans and Beau shouting; “Go fuck yourself, Molly!” as a pillow hits him in the face. “Beau, please, headache…”, Fjord grumbles, somewhat muffled – probably has his head buried in a pillow.

Marion sighs. “I honestly don’t know what I expected”, she says. “Too much, it seems”, Caleb says and she laughs. “It seems so.”

“Rise and shine, sweethearts, the sun is long since up and you’re sleeping the day away!”, Molly says cheerfully as he walks through the room, poking and prodding as he goes. When he gets to Yasha, she suddenly reaches out and grabs him, pulls him down next to her. “Wh-?! Hey, you aren’t hungover!”, he says and Yasha grins. “Nope.”

“Betrayal!!”

“Shut the fuck up, Molly!”

“You shut the fuck up, Beau!”

“Both of you shut the fuck up!!!”, Jester cries, pillow over her head and retreating into her blanket.

“I think we should get them some water”, Caduceus says as he stands up. The firbolg doesn’t seem the least bit hungover. Now that Caleb thinks about it, he’s pretty sure Caduceus hasn’t even so much as looked at alcohol the previous night. So at least one of them is sober, that’s a relief.

Marion nods. “Consider it done.”

\--

They eventually manage to get cleaned up and drag themselves downstairs for breakfast, which they eat mostly in silence.

“So! What are our plans for today?”, Molly eventually asks. He’s met mostly with mutters and shrugs and Beau glares at him. “How come you’re not totally wasted?”, she asks. Molly grins at her. “Because I’m a responsible adult, unlike some of you all”, he says and Beau pretends to gag.

“You and responsible? Pass me a fucking bucket”, she says. Molly kicks her under the table.

“I seem to vaguely remember there being talk of going shopping?”, Fjord says, low voice even lower than usual. “Maybe we should try and get some masks too before it gets too crowded.”

“Ohh, yes!!”, Jester cheers, then her hands fly to her head. “Ow ow ow, pain, pain…” Then she continues in a calmer tone; “We totally should go right now you guys. And then we can go do other things later, before the ball starts.”

Caleb winces. Oh, right. The shopping.

He gives Nott a poke. His goblin friend had been dozing off, leaning against him, but now she snaps awake. “Caleb?”

“We’re making plans for the day. Shopping’s on the list”, he says and Nott yawns. “Oh? Oh yeah, we were gonna do that, weren’t we?” She yawns again and looks at Jester. “Lead the way.”

\--

Telling Jester to ‘lead the way’ apparently includes stopping at nearly every stand and shop to check out the wares on sale. The longest stop so far is at a stand that sells masks, where Jester grabs Fjord by the arm and all but drags him over. “Fjord Fjord Fjord look look look!!!”

She plants a mask featuring a smiling clown on his face and grins. “Amazing, you look sooo handsome~”

Fjord carefully removes the mask and puts it back, definitely a few shades darker than before. “Th-thanks, but I’ll have to pass… I think I’ll stick with my old mask, if you don’t mind”, he says and Jester claps her hands. “Oh yes! I have it riiiiiight-”, she plunges her hand into her bag “-here!”

What she pulls out is a full-face, dark blue mask with golden details and a green snake curled across the left side. Fjord puts it on and spreads his arms. “Still pretty good, huh?”, he says, voice muffled. Jester giggles as she pulls it off and quickly kisses him. “Yes absolutely”, she says.

“Oh, Beau, how’s this?”, Yasha asks, half her face now obscured by that of a bear. Beau snickers. “Can’t say I’m entirely sold… How about this?”, she says and finds a flower crown to put on Yasha’s head. She grins. “Ohh, so intimidating.”

Nott hems and has for a bit before tying her old porcelain mask around her face. “I think I’ll just stick with this. It’s served me pretty well so far”, she says. Caduceus crouches down next to her. “It suits you very well. Although, do you mind if I…” He points a finger, there’s a small wave of light and suddenly Nott’s mask is as clean as it was the day she stole it.

“Oh!! Thank you, mister Clay!”, she says and Caduceus smiles at her.

There’s a tap on Caleb’s shoulder, causing him to jump a little and turn around – to stare right in the face of a mischievously smiling faun, face framed by carved leaves and flowers. “What do you think?”, Molly asks, taking the thing off, grin matching the faun’s.

“It’s, ah, it’s very… very… you”, Caleb says. “It looks good.”

Molly flips the mask over and gives it another look. “You think? I’m not sure if it’ll go with the outfit I have planned though…”

“What do you have planned?”, Caleb asks and Molly grins. “Ah, can’t say yet! You’ll see tonight!”, he says, winks. He gives the mask another critical look, tilting his head to the side as he mulls it over.

While he does that, Caleb’s attention is caught by a particularly interesting mask. _Oh, this will be hilarious._ “Mollymauk?”

“Yes- OH GODS!”, Molly shouts - the mask Caleb put on covers half the face and has the appearance of an octopus. “You- I nearly had a heartattack!”

Caleb grins a little. “So that’s a no, then?”, he says and crouches down next to Nott, taps her on the shoulder. “Hey Nott, look at me.”

“Wh- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”, Nott screams. “CALEB WHAT- CALEB!?”

It’s impossible to fight the smile that makes its way onto Caleb’s face as he takes the mask off. “Okay, that’s definitely a no”, he says and puts it back with the others. “You looked like a Mindflayer or something!”, Nott says, still a little shaken but a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

“Oh, that probably would not have been good, hm?”

“No, definitely not!”

“Caleb, here”, Beau says as she tosses him a mask. He catches it, inspects it: a three-quarter mask of a black cat with gold and silver details. It’s… very nice. He looks up at Beau. She shrugs, arms crossed. “Seemed like the kind of thing you’d like. Molly said you have a cat? I dunno, you can put it back if you don’t like it…”

“Ah, no, it’s- it’s very nice, thank you, Beauregard”, he says. He tries it on, looks at Nott. “Well? How does it look?”

A large smile appears on Nott’s face. “It’s very good! Very much your style!”, she says to him, and then to Beau: “Good find!”

“Thanks”, Beau grins.

Caleb stands up. “Mister Mollymauk, what do you think?”, he asks. Molly doesn’t immediately turn around, instead says: “If it’s another fucking octopus, mister Caleb, I swear-”

“It’s not, I promise.”

Now Molly turns, very slowly. Then he notices the mask and grins. “Well hello there, handsome stranger. Say, have you seen a certain mister Caleb Widogast? Seems he disappeared on me”, he says and Caleb is suddenly very grateful for the mask obscuring his face as he feels himself turn red.

He takes it off and Molly feigns a look of surprise. “Oh! There you are!”, he laughs.

\--

After a few more minutes of trying on masks, the group makes their choices and moves on.

Jester takes them to a store that from the looks of it borders on fancy, but still looks down-to-earth enough to attract people of all social classes.

“This is my faaavorite store you guys. The clothes are so pretty and good quality and ohmygosh look at _that!”_ And with that, Jester disappears behind a few racks and out of sight. Fjord sighs. “Jester, wait up”, he calls after her and walks in the direction she disappeared into.

The group soon disperses through the store and Caleb follows Nott while she browses. Most stores specialize in clothes for only one or two races, but this one offers a wider variety – large animal pelts hanging next to tiny tunics, long dresses next to wicked looking boots, the options go on.

Caleb stops as Nott comes to a halt. She seems a little anxious. “I, uh- I’ll- I’ll be honest, Caleb, I’ve never, never really gone… shopping before? It was usually more scavenging the trash bins, so I- I don’t actually know… what to… do”, she says. Caleb curses internally. Of course she wouldn’t know. Shit. He hadn’t thought about that.

“I’m- I’m a little out of my depth here as well, to be honest. Should we ask Jester or Mollymauk to help out?”, he says and Nott nods. “I think that would be good, yeah”, she says.

Caleb scans the store. He spots Caduceus and Yasha easily enough, but where… oh, there they are. He takes Nott’s hand. “I see them, come on.”

“-and I was thinking about something like this but I don’t think this green goes with my blue- oh, Caleb, Nott, hi!!”, Jester waves as she sees them approach. “What’s up??”

“Uhh, ja, so… Me and Nott, we… we’ve been on the road for a- for a very long time and so we don’t really… We’re a little out of our depths right now? So if you have any tips or advice, that would be… appreciated”, Caleb says.

“Oh absolutely! Don’t you worry about it, I’ll find you two something nice!”, Jester says and zooms off. Molly pats Caleb on the shoulder. “You came to the right people”, he says.

Somehow Caleb has his doubts.

Five minutes later Jester skips back up to them. “Do you think this is your size?”, she asks, holding something in front of Nott, who sputters first before looking at it. “I- I think so, but Jester, dresses aren’t really… my thing”, she says. Jester grins. “Surprise!”, she says and pulls the skirt to the side, showing that it is not, in fact, a skirt, but pant legs made to look like a skirt. Nott gasps. “Jester that’s amazing! I wanna try it, can I try it?!”

Caleb watches them go as the two of them head for the changing rooms. Something is then thrown over his head and a sleeve tumbles across his vision. “Oh. You found something then?”, he asks and Molly grins as he retrieves the jacket. “I would like to think so, yes”, he says. He holds it up for Caleb to see. “What do you think?”

Caleb gives the jacket a once over and freezes when he realizes what he’s looking at. It’s not a Crownsguard uniform exactly, but it’s eerily close with its red and gold and overall design. Memories begin to bubble up and Caleb swallows. “I uh- I don’t- red’s not- I don’t know, I don’t think so, sorry”, he says.

Molly looks the jacket over again, hums for a bit. “Yeah, a bit too bright I think. Wouldn’t go well with your hair. Alright, let’s keep looking!”

“Caleb, Molly, come here! Come look!”, Jester calls, waving them over.

“How’s it going?”, Molly says once they’re close enough. Jester grins and steps aside. “Tadah!!”

It’s weird seeing Nott without her many layers. The dress/jumpsuit seems very thin from the way it folds, with no sleeves, just some thin straps. Nott fidgets with some of the folds, very pointedly looking at the floor. “Uhm… what- what do you think…?’, she asks.

“Well, let’s see”, Caleb says. He walks around her, making thinking noises, eventually squatting down in front of her. “ _I_ think you look absolutely amazing, but it’s about what _you_ think”, he says. Nott’s ears twitch a little. “I- I really like it, I can definitely run in it if I wanted to but ehm… There’s- no hood or anything, and I feel a little exposed”, she says. Her hands go to her hair, running her fingers through.

“Do we have anything for that?”, Caleb asks and Jester grins even wider. “Actually! I thought you’d say something like that, Nott, so I got this as well”, she says and pulls from behind her a small cloak, just as black as the dress/jumpsuit, with silver hems. “Wanna try?”

Nott nods and Jester crouches down next to Caleb to put the cloak on Nott’s shoulders. The tiefling squees a little. “Ohh, Nott, you look amazing~!”, she coos. She turns the goblin around so Nott can see for herself in the mirror. “How’s that? Better?”

Nott pulls up the hood – it’s large enough to hide part of her face and definitely hides her ears quite nicely. She stares for a bit, put her mask up, stares more. Then she turns back around and throws her arms around Jester. “IloveitIloveitIloveit thank you Jester!! Thank you!!”, she says and Jester laughs. “I’m glad you like it so much!”

There’s a pat on Caleb’s head. “Now as for you…”, Molly says. “I think I have an idea.”

“Is it a good idea?”

Molly snickers. “All my ideas are good ideas!”, he says. Jester fake-coughs and Molly sticks out his tongue at her. “Anyway, follow me”, he says.

Caleb would be lying if he wasn’t mildly terrified of whatever ideas this peacock of a tiefling had concerning clothes.

Molly pulls a few garments from the racks, some he holds in front of Caleb, others he frowns at and immediately puts back, muttering under his breath pretty much the entire time. Caleb looks around as well. He pulls out a shirt with wide sleeves, flaring out and coming back together in embroidered cuffs. It’s… something. “Mollymauk, what about this?”, he asks, holding it up.

He can’t say he’s comfortable with the situation exactly, but if it gives them some indication of what to search for, hell, he’ll do it.

Molly hums as he looks it over. “I think… yeah, I saw something- Hold on, don’t move, I’ll be right back”, he says and runs off, leaving Caleb a little baffled. Nott comes up next to him, back in her regular clothes. “Found anything?”, she asks.

“I think so?”, Caleb says and shows her the shirt. “What do you think?”

Nott runs her fingers over the fabric, the stitches on the cuffs. “It’s very nice. The details aren’t too eye-catching, which is good. I think this would look good on you”, she says.

“Mollymauk seems to think so as well”, Caleb says. Nott blinks up at him. “Are you okay?”, she asks and Caleb sighs. “Getting a little tired, if I’m honest, but I do wanna see this through”, he says.

Nott takes his hand. “If you want to step outside, I’ll come with you”, she says. Caleb smiles at her. “Thank you, but I think I’ll be fine for now. Should that change, you’ll be the first to know”, he says. Nott nods. “Alright.”

Molly eventually returns, arms full of heavy dark fabric. “I think I got something”, he says and shows what he found; a grey vest and black cloak, like Nott’s but with a high collar instead of a hood. It’s surprisingly down to earth and muted, compared to the uniform-like jacket from earlier.

“Ehm, ja, I think- I think that’s alright. Should- I should probably try it, huh?”, Caleb says. Molly nods and Nott says; “Yes!”

Turns out the cloak is more for decoration than functionality, Caleb notices as he finds two clips in the shoulders of the thing and attaches it to the vest. He turns to look in the mirror and pauses. The overall ensemble causes a wave of… something. Feelings, definitely, but Caleb can’t figure out if they’re good or bad.

He steps out of the changing room and spreads his arms a little. “How do I look?”

“Like a very handsome young man!”, Nott says and Jester nods furiously. “Caleb you look super duper handsome right now!”, she says.

“Ah- Uh- th- thank you…?”, Caleb says. He looks at Molly. “Mister Mollymauk, your thoughts?”   
The tiefling doesn’t immediately reply, hand over his mouth in a thoughtful gesture. Then he says; “Seconded.”

“What?”

“What Jester said. I second that”, Molly says. He doesn’t remove his hand. The smile creeping onto Jester’s face is almost fiendish. “Mollyyy~ are you blushiiing~?”, she drawls. Molly sputters. “Wh- who, me? Me? Nah, nuh-uh, not me, nah”, he says. Jester giggles. “Oh my Traveler, you aaare~ Wait till I tell Beau~”, she sings.

“Don’t you dare!”

“Catch me then!”, Jester says and runs off, Molly hot on her heels.

\--

They get scolded by the shopkeeper, of course. And rightly so, as their chase made quite a mess of the store, ending with Molly tackling Jester to the ground right before she reached Beau.

Then they’re out of the shop, with their newly purchased clothes and masks safely in Jester’s bag (that thing can fit way more into it than one might expect), ready to reconvene at the Chateau to make plans for the evening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of a filler chapter, but it allows for more bonding so eh.
> 
> Also if my updates become super slow that's bc I have to focus on exams and graduating and shit SO- yeah.
> 
> I have written ahead so there's still a while before the posted chapters catch up with the written chapters but yeah. If I drop off the face of the Earth, y'all now know why.


	9. Anyone Who's Anybody

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey remember chapter four? Yeah.
> 
>  
> 
> :3

Turns out the only thing the Mighty Nein wants to do is prepare for the upcoming ball.

Fjord sputters at this. “We still have a couple hours!”, he says. Beau pats his arm. “Some of us are still a lil’ hungover, my dude”, she says, smile big and fake on her face. Jester nods, groans, then says; “Plus! Me and Molly still haven’t settled on our make-up! We _need_ those hours!”, she says.

“Yeah, I need to go see if any of my clothes are in need of repairs…”, Beau mutters. “Shit. Should’ve thought of that earlier.”

They reach the part in the road where it branches off towards the Chateau. “What about you guys?”, Jester asks Caleb and Nott. Caleb scratches his chin. “I could shave, I think? Haven’t done that in a while”, he says. “Do you even have the tools for that?”, Nott asks and Caleb does a non-committal handwave. “Ehhh, probably? I could always go out and get some.”

“I could shave you. If you want”, Yasha pipes up. Caleb stares at her and she adds; “With my sword.”

“Wouldn’t that be really dangerous?”, Fjord says and Yasha shrugs. “Only if you mind large blades close to your face.”

Caleb snorts. If there was a time where he was afraid of blades near his face, it is long in the past now. To Yasha he says; “I appreciate the offer, but I think I got this covered.”

\--

Some rummaging around his sack reveals that he does, in fact, have a razorblade – except it is barely recognizable as such due to the large amount of rust on it. Also it has gotten extremely dull, so Caleb enlists Nott’s help in sharpening it and she happily obliges.

He watches her work for a while, then decides to practice some spells and transcribe a few others until Nott passes him the blade again.

A few hours later they stand outside the Chateau in their newly purchased outfits, Caleb fidgeting with the mask in his hands and Nott playing with her cloak, pulling it around her, flapping it like wings, keeping her hands busy.

Then the door opens and Jester skips out. She waves. “Hey guys!! Wow, you look really amazing!”, she says.

“Ah- thank you- You look, look pretty nice yourself”, Caleb says and Nott adds; “Like a princess!”

“Aww thanks you guys!”, Jester giggles and she does a little pirouette, sending her sea-green, layered skirt flying. It compliments her blue skin nicely and minimalizes the contrast between that and the green cloak around her shoulders. Her hand disappears into the dress’ folds and pulls out a… metal helmet? She puts it on and oh- that’s… something.

The helmet has the face of some fanged demon. It’s clearly meant to be worn in battle and it’s so very Jester-like to wear that to a masked ball. She pulls up the visor and grins. “What do you think?”

“Terrifying”, is Nott’s immediate answer. Jester giggles again.

“Please tell me you won’t keep that on the entire night”, Fjord says as he steps out. The half-orc looks very dashing in his black naval officer coat with golden details. A crimson sash trails after him and his mask is tied to the side of his face. Jester grins at him. “Of course not! That thing gets really hot you know!”

The rest of the Mighty Nein eventually filters out as well.

Beau complains about how restricting her robes are, even though they don’t seem like they would be. If anything it seems like Beau pulled out her formal monk’s attire, which has many layers in varying shades of rich blues. She keeps tugging on the sleeves like she’d rather rip them off.

Caduceus’ robes seem similar to Beau’s, with their many layers, except his are more pastel and earthy in their designs. His mask features a grinning sunflower which hangs around his neck.

Yasha has managed to strike an oddly charming balance between leather, feathers and flowers. In the end she did buy the bear mask plus the flower crown, making her look like some kind of vengeful nature spirit, or undead earth god. It’s both terrifying and beautiful.

Last to exit is Mollymauk and once again he subverts everything Caleb was expecting. Not that he was ever sure _what_ to expect, but still. The waistcoat is such a deep purple it borders on black, with both gold and silver thread sparkling in elaborate patterns. The coattails on the other hand are a bright turquoise that nearly glows in the dark, and Caleb isn’t sure if the garment underneath can be described as a tunic or just a straight-up dress.

The tiefling grins at him and Caleb snaps out of his daze. “Well then, are we all set?”, Molly asks.

There’s a few nods and Jester cheers; “Let’s goooo~!”

\--

The energy of the town is far more chaotic now than it was the previous day – people are dancing, laughing, singing, shouting, fighting and what have you. There’s music everywhere without an apparent source which is a little off-putting. The air pulses with hyperactivity and Caleb finds himself growing restless.

“So is there- is there anywhere in particular we’re headed to, or are we just walking around- what’s the plan here?”, he asks. Molly shrugs, grinning widely. “Just looking for a good place to throw down, I’d say”, he says and Jester nods.

“Did you have anything in mind?”

Molly cocks his head, listening to the different songs that all play simultaneously and with varying levels of volume, then points. “This way.”

“This better be good, Molly”, Beau grumbles. She’s rolled up her sleeves at this point, although she still seems rather bothered by them. Molly smiles at her. “Have I ever led you astray?”

“Well there was that one time-”

“Except that one.”

“Also that time with Marius-”

“That doesn’t count and you fucking know it.”

“And with Ophelia-”

_“Okay maybe ONE time!”_

Jester cackles and Fjord chuckles while Molly mutters something under his breath before his grin is back on his face as they round the corner and step onto a plaza.

Magic lights dance through the air, people are laughing and dancing and suddenly things go very fast as Molly laughs, grabs Caleb by the wrist, drags him forward and says; “Alright, dance with me, mister Caleb!”

The dance has a higher tempo and steps more complex than what Caleb is used to and any semblance of pattern is lost to him. “I- I do not- I don’t know the steps!”, he says. Molly grins. “Trial and error, mister Caleb, trial and error!”

Caleb wants to protest but he’s given a whirl before he can, nearly falling over in the process and definitely bumping into someone. After a muttered apology he turns back to Mollymauk, who beams at him. “Come on! I’ll teach you!”, he says and holds out a hand. There’s a split second in which Caleb considers bolting before resolutely grabbing Molly’s hand.  

Eventually Caleb becomes aware of the logic in this seemingly random choreography – step forward, flare out, move back in, rotate, whirl, switch hands, repeat in opposite direction… He’s getting the hang of this for sure. He smiles at Molly, who smiles back. “Fast learner I see! Ready to switch?”, Molly says.

“Switch?”

As a response, Molly gives him a whirl again and suddenly different hands find his and he’s staring at a beaming Jester. “Hi~!”, she says. “Ah, hello”, Caleb replies. They resume the dance and Jester nods approvingly. “You learned fast”, she says.

“Thank you. M-Mollymauk is a good teacher, if a little, ehm, trial by fire”, Caleb says and Jester giggles. “Yeah, he’s a bit rough. But he means well”, she says. She moves back in and grins. “Switch!”

“Oh gods-”

He passes the entire Mighty Nein like this – some of them more than once – and slowly moves on to people he doesn’t know at all; a man with a white afro, a dwarven woman with a cigarette, a gnome girl with branches in her hair. At one point Caleb loses sight of the rest of the group but finds it doesn’t worry him that much, instead opting to enjoy the anonymity of the whole shabang.

Right now, everyone is faceless, everyone’s a stranger, anyone could be anybody. And considering the amount of booze that’s flowing, there likely won’t be many people who remember what they got up to tonight. Tonight, everyone is anonymous. Tonight, anyone could be anybody.

A rush of euphoria has Caleb grinning behind his mask and when he gives his current dance partner a whirl – a half-elven ginger haired woman – she almost loses her balance. Then she laughs and takes the hands of a fair haired man with a raven mask and continues on.

This is fun, Caleb thinks. Actual, undiluted _fun._

He doesn’t know where the rest of his friends are right now, but he isn’t as worried as he normally would be. _I hope Nott’s having fun as well._

A small commotion at the edge of the plaza, not too far from him, catches his attention.

Some zolezzo are clearing a path for an official-looking man. He’s ornately dressed with a sour face and no mask. He seems irritated and generally humorless and Caleb wonders if this could be Lord Sharp, the man with a warrant for Jester’s arrest. He briefly contemplates playing a trick on the man, just because he can and his caution is kind of in the wind right now.

That thought is cut short however when he catches sight of the man’s companion and the warm buzz of euphoria is immediately replaced by an icy block of fear in the pit of his stomach.

Because next to Lord Sharp is none other than Archmage Trent Ikithon.

Caleb takes a step back. His heart begins to race and his breathing picks up.

_Run._

_RUN._

_RUN!!_

Caleb turns around, pushes past the woman who had been reaching for him and runs through the crowd, frantically searching.

_What’s he doing here?! Why is Ikithon here?!! Nott, where’s Nott?!_ He needs Nott, _now!_

He doesn’t see her. The panic rises and Caleb knows that if he doesn’t act fast he’ll be incapacitated by a panic attack. _Shit. Fuck! Where the hell is Nott!?_

Was that a glowing coattail?

Caleb runs forward to where he saw the slip of luminescent turquoise disappear. “Mollymauk?!”

The tiefling turns around at the mention of his name. “Mister Caleb, what- …are you alright? You look pale”, he says. Caleb puts a hand on Molly’s arm to steady himself.  “No, no I am not alright. Have you seen Nott? I need Nott”, he says.

Molly looks like he wants to ask more but instead shakes his head. “I’ll help look, I’ll tell the others. Do you have any means of contacting her?”

And just like that, Caleb remembers he’s a wizard.

He nods as he digs into his pocket. “Yeah, yeah, I do, I’ll send a message, make sure she knows to be on the lookout.” He winds the copper wire around his fingers and casts the spell as Molly rushes off to find someone to notify.

“Nott, where are you? I- I need your help, please- please come find me. Mollymauk and the others are looking for you, go to them”, he says. A beat of silence, then; “…I’m on my way. And Caleb?”

“Yeah?”

_“Breathe.”_

He draws a shuddering breath. “Thank you…”

“I’ll be right there, don’t move”, comes her voice from the wire before the connection severs.

_Don’t move._

Bless her for knowing exactly what he was thinking – right now he wants nothing more than to run. Whereas a few moments ago he felt completely anonymous, he now feels horribly exposed. Watched. Hunted.

Again he tries to calm his breathing, with a bit more success. _Just wait for Nott and everything will be fine. Just wait for Nott. Don’t run off. Just wait. She’ll be here soon. Don’t-_

“CALEB!!”

He turns to see Yasha rushing towards him, Nott on her shoulder. When they’re close enough Nott hops off and runs at him and reaches him right as he crouches down to hug her. She then pulls back, takes his face in her hands. “Are you alright? Are you hurt?”, she asks.

Caleb shakes his head. “No I’m not hurt but- I would- _really_ like to leave. Right now. I will explain, just… Let’s go”, he says. Nott doesn’t look any less worried. “Alright. We’ll go back to the inn”, she says, squeezes his hand. “You’re gonna be fine, just breathe.”

Caleb drags a hand down his face and exhales deeply. “Yeah, got it.” He looks at Yasha. “Sorry to, uhm, bail on you all like this, I’m- I’m sorry.”

Yasha shrugs, seemingly unbothered. “No worries, I know how crowds can… get to you, sometimes, you know? Don’t blame yourself.” She looks around for any of the Nein to no avail. “Is it alright if we come check on you tomorrow? If you want us to.”

Caleb bites his lip, mulls it over. A few moments of relative silence pass before he answers; “…Yeah, I think- I think that would be alright. I will see you tomorrow then. Ehm, enjoy the rest of the party”, he says and begins to walk off.

“See you tomorrow!”, he hears Yasha call behind him.

\--

They get back to the inn as fast they could reasonably be expected to in a town engulfed in festive cheer. It doesn’t exactly help Caleb’s current frazzled state of mind.

The moment the door closes behind him, Caleb sighs. Aside from the muffled music and cheering outside, it’s quiet. Blessed, blessed quiet.

He sits down on the bed, soon followed by Nott. His little friend stares up at him with those large, yellow eyes. She doesn’t say anything, but he sees the question. He sighs again. “Nott… What I’m about to tell you may… change your opinion of me. And probably not for the better.”

She tilts her head, a frown forming on her face. “Caleb, whatever you want to tell me… I’ll listen. I’ll listen to all of it, like you listened to me. I’ll form my opinion after that.”

Caleb is silent for a moment. Then he begins to talk. And tells her everything.

About how he came to be a student at Soltryce.

About the brainwashing, grooming, abuse. About the ‘assignments’ he would be forced to do. About the experiments.

About the so-called ‘graduation ceremony’. The parenticide.

About his years in the institution, his healing, the fake memories. His attempt at killing Trent Ikithon, who he saw again at the festival not even an hour ago. His failure, his arrest, his ‘trial’ and verdict.

He stops there.

The prison is where he met Nott. The prison is where he ends the story.

He doesn’t look at Nott, he looks at the wraps he had undone when talking about the experiments, looks at the scars on his arms. Not at Nott. He doesn’t want to know what her face looks like right now. Disgusted, fearful? Probably.

He’s told her everything now. Well, not everything.

Not his name.

The risk is too great, he feels, especially with Trent Ikithon within the city walls. The idea of the Archmage mentally reaching out and plucking that name from his friend’s mind and finding them that way is… unbearable to say the least.

So he keeps that. The one thing she doesn’t need to know. For her safety and his.

Caleb snaps into focus at the sound of shifting fabric, someone moving, walking towards the door, opening it. Closing it.

Caleb hangs his head even lower.

Serves him right, he supposes. Who in their right mind would want to stay with someone like him? With a _monster_ like him? He doesn’t blame Nott, although he would be lying if he said he hadn’t had some hope… Ah, who cares, what’s done is done – he’s scared her off. He deserves that. To be alone. He doesn’t deserve someone like Nott, someone that good. Someone that kind and caring.

He doesn’t deserve it.

_Thmp thmp thmp-_

The sound of feet running towards him is all the warning Caleb gets before two small arms wrap around him and squeeze tight. Small frame shaking, Nott buries her face in Caleb’s shoulder and sobs quietly. “N-Nott…?”

“I’m so sorry I’m so sorry you had to go through that you didn’t deserve that I’m so sorry I’m so, so sorry-”

“Hey, Nott, hey…” Caleb puts his hands on her shoulders, briefly considering pushing her back a little, then deciding against it. “You don’t have to- you have nothing to apologize for? You weren’t there, why would you be sorry?”

“Because-”, Nott says,“-because I mean you probably felt you couldn’t tell me until now, you’ve had to carry this all on your own because you probably thought you couldn’t- couldn’t trust me, or something, I don’t know, I’m just-” She pulls back, large eyes made even larger by her tears. “I’m just sorry you felt you couldn’t tell anyone.”

A lump forms in Caleb’s throat and he takes a second to wipe his eyes. “Nott, I-”, his voice breaks, he clears his throat, tries again; “It wasn’t that I- I didn’t trust you, it’s more that- it’s dangerous, for people to get involved with me. If Ikithon finds me, there’s no telling what he’ll do, to me or to you. I didn’t… didn’t want to take that risk. But I felt you had to know. I owed you that.”

“Caleb you don’t owe me anything”, Nott says. “Sure, I’ve saved us both more times than either of us can count but I did that because I care. You don’t… owe me.”

Caleb chuckles. “I’m still grateful for that.”

A beat of silence. Then;

“…I thought you left. Just now”, Caleb mumbles.

“What?! No, of course not!”, Nott says, seeming almost offended by the sheer notion. “I would never leave you, I was- …call me silly, but I actually wanted to go find that fucker Ikithon and put a bolt in his brain. But then I… I realized you need me right now. And so here I am.”

Caleb blinks. “You would have done that for me?”

“Of course!!”, Nott says. “Anyone can fall to a sniper, it wouldn’t exactly have been hard.”

The mental image of Nott attempting to snipe the Archmage fills Caleb’s heart with equal parts adoration for his tiny friend and mind-numbing horror.

“…Thank you.”

Nott smiles. “Of course.” She takes his hand. “Caleb… you know I’ll always be here for you, right?”

“…I know.”

“You deserve to have people around you. Good people. People who care for you. People who love you. You know that, right?”

“………..I want to believe that.”

Her smile softens. “I know, and I know you’re trying. I know it’s hard, but if anything… know that that’s the truth. Alright?”

Caleb, not trusting himself to speak right now, nods.

Nott hugs him again and after a moment of hesitation, Caleb hugs her back.

“I should… I’ll go out and do research”, he mutters. “To find something to help you. We’ve been here for a week and I’ve done nothing. I’ll get on that as soon as I can.”

“Caleb, you don’t have to force yourself… and if this is about owing me-”

Caleb shakes his head, messing up Nott’s hair in the process. “No, not that. I just… want to. Because you’re my friend.”

“…Thanks Caleb.”

“Anytime.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit you guys it's been nearly a month I'm so sorry- I've been so busy with school and chapter 12 is a real b*tch to write and honestly I kind of forgot? So lemme make it up to you with this.


	10. Bathing Time and Book Crimes

When Caleb wakes up the next morning, there’s voices at the door.

They speak in hushed tones, not loud enough to make out words but not soft enough to go unnoticed. He nudges Nott and she blinks awake. “Caleb?”, she whispers. He puts a finger to his lips and the last bits of sleep clear from her eyes. She slowly takes her crossbow and nods.

The two of them get up quietly, careful to not disturb anything on their way to the door, and flank it.

Caleb puts his ear to the door to try and make out what the voices are saying. He hears bits and pieces – two people, one with a low voice, one with a slightly higher pitch.

“-Don’t even know which room he’s in, and that innkeep wouldn’t tell us…”

“Well, that’s what happens when you call in favors from someone’s crime boss mother or whatever; people tend to dislike you.”

“Should we go ask anyway?”

“And by that you mean I seduce him?”

“I mean-”

The talking stops when Caleb opens the door, expression bemused as he tells Fjord and Molly “Guten morgen, you two.”

They both start, Molly recovering first. “Good morning, mister Caleb! Sleep well?”, he asks, giant grin firmly in place. Does Mollymauk ever _not_ smile?

Caleb nods. “Just fine. What about you all?”

“Jester and Beau are fucking wasted”, Fjord says. “They wanted to come with but they couldn’t even leave their beds, much less get downstairs. We’ve got Deucey and Yasha are taking care of that particular disaster.” He gives Caleb a once over. “How’re you holdin’ up? Yasha said you suddenly had to go?”

“…Ja, ja, the eh, the crowds… It got- I got a little overwhelmed so I left… Sorry about that, you all were kind enough to invite me and I just… ran. Sorry”, Caleb says. A sympathetic smile appears on Fjord’s face and he claps Caleb on the shoulder (nowhere near as rough as Beauregard, but still) and says; “Yeah, I get you. Yasha has the same problem. I appreciate the fact that you gave us a heads-up, else we probably would’ve torn through the town lookin’ for you.”

He then gives Molly this weird sideways glance, eyebrow raised, to which Molly responds with a glare. Whatever non-verbal message just passed between them, it flew completely over Caleb’s head. “A-anyway. Thank you, both, for checking in. I am fine now”, Caleb says.

“Sure thing”, Fjord says. “We were uh, actually thinking of cleaning up a lil’ at the bathhouse. Wanna come with?”

Caleb bites his lip, glances at Nott. He _had_ promised to go out and do research today… Nott should come first, or at least her opinion. “Nott, what do you think?”

“You know how I feel about water”, Nott says, taking a swig from her flask. Caleb winces – alcohol that strong first thing in the morning can’t be good for a person. Then again, neither is drowning and yet here Nott is.

“Yeah, we had actually been planning to go into town today, so I don’t- I don’t know…”, Caleb says.

“There are other methods of cleaning that don’t involve water”, Molly says, arms crossed and inspecting his nails. Nott’s ears perk up. “…Go on?”

Molly waves a hand around as he talks, saying; “They have this… thing, bit, where they massage you with oil and then scrape the dirt off. I really recommend that, by the way, it’s very relaxing. Normally you do it between baths but I think if you ask for just that, they won’t look at you weird.”

Nott makes a thinking noise, then turns to look at Caleb. “…I know we said we would… explore today, but is it alright if we do this first?”, she asks. Caleb pats her on the head. “I mean, the city will still be here later today anyway, so why not?”, he says.

\--

The bathhouse reflects Nicodranas perfectly; from a distance it appears bright and splendid and expensive, however upon closer inspection that image falls apart at the seams; paint is flaking off as they watch, the gold nothing but a thin layer of leaf gold over wood, tapestries frayed at the edges.

They step inside and the interior is a little nicer; pale stone and crimson fabrics, the place seems way more respectable on the inside than it does on the outside. Behind the counter is a human man, dressed all in purple, who shoots them a charming smile as they walk in. “Good morning there, what can I do for you?”, he asks.

Fjord does the talking, asking for a private bath for the lot of them and “one of those massage-thingies for our lil’ halfling friend here”, he says, pointing at a disguised Nott. The man nods. “Certainly”, he says and a few minutes later, the Mighty Nein is soaking away in their own pool.

Jester breaks surface with a gasp. “I forgot how nice this was you guys! We should go more often!” Although her enthusiasm is the same as always, she’s lowered her voice in consideration of both her and Beau’s hangovers. Molly chuckles and flings water at her using his tail. “That’s what I’ve been saying, but no one ever listens to me!”, he says.

“That’s because you talk bullshit”, Beau says and curses when he flings water at her too. “Hey!”

“You need to clean you mouth too”, Molly says and Jester cackles. Beau grumbles and wades over to Yasha. “Yash, he’s being mean, do something”, she says and Yasha laughs. “Are you asking me to choose sides?”

“For the moment, yeah.”

Yasha chuckles, kisses the top of Beau’s head. “I would never do that, I love you both.”

“But I would!”, Jester exclaims and splashes Beau. “I’m with Molly!!”

“You wanna go, Jess?”

“Fight Club??”

“Fight Club!!”

Caleb, almost entirely submerged, watches Beau make a grab for Jester, only for the tiefling girl to pull her friend under, most likely via tail. Beau sputters as she comes back up and dives for Jester’s legs.

“Are they always like this?”, he asks Molly. The purple tiefling grins. “Why do you think we don’t come here often?”, Molly says, and then adds, a little louder; “These two always make a mess of the place.”

“Fuck you!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Caleb chuckles quietly, then almost-completely submerges himself again, only the top half of his face sticking out above the water. They’re a weird bunch, this so-called Mighty Nein, but he would be lying if he said he wasn’t at least a little fond of them.

“Hey Caleb, do you need help changing your bandages?”, Jester asks, who at the moment has Beau in a headlock. Caleb starts, reflexively pulling his arms close. “I- I- uhm, no- no thank you”, he says. Jester frowns. “But you’re getting them all wet and stuff, that cannot be good for your wounds”, she says.

“I have to agree with miss Jester here”, Caduceus says. “If they are still healing, then this much water isn’t-”

“They’re healed”, Caleb blurts out. “It’s just scars but uh, I don’t-… They are rather nasty, and I would rather not anyone having to look at them”, he says. Not a lie, but not the entire truth either. “I’ll change them later. Thank you, though, Jester.”

Jester’s frown turns into a pout. Then she shrugs. “Alright then”, she says, then yelps as Beau breaks free of her grasp and pushes her under.

“You said you and Nott were gonna head into town later”, Molly says after a few beats of silence. “Anywhere in particular?”

Caleb shakes his head. “Not exactly. Just… Well, I suppose we would have the best chances at a library? We uhm, there’s something we are researching, which is why we’re traveling around”, he says. “Do you know of any?”

“Do I”, Molly grins, then calls out; “Beau, hey Beau!” When she doesn’t respond, he changes it to; “Unpleasant one!”

“What, obnoxious one?!”

Molly’s grin widens. “Mister Caleb here is looking for a library, take him to yours maybe?”, he says. Beau looks at Caleb now. “I mean, sure. Whatcha lookin’ for?”

“Uhm, stuff about transmutation. The more detailed the better”, Caleb says.

“Dangerous stuff?”

“…I suppose it could be described that way.”

Beau smirks. “If I were into dudes that’d be so hot. Yeah, just give the word and I’ll hit you up with some monks at the Cobalt’s Archive, no problem.” She then turns her attention back to Jester and their water fight.

“Cobalt’s Archive? Beauregard is with the Cobalt Soul?”, Caleb asks.

“You sound surprised”, Molly notes.

“…I am not gonna lie, I am a little. Aren’t the monks of the Cobalt Soul supposed to be… respectable?”, Caleb says. “No offense towards Beauregard.”

Molly cackles. “Mister Caleb, you have hit the nail square on the head”, he says. “We all know Beau has some sort of shit going on involving these monks, but so far she hasn’t told us yet, so… yeah. And either way it doesn’t matter, it means she has connections that come in very handy sometimes.”

“Like now?”

“Like now”, Molly agrees. “A lot of doors open when you know the right person to talk to, and in this case that person is Beau. She’ll get you into that library, no worries.”

\--

They do end up getting kicked out thanks to Beau and Jester’s ‘Fight Club’, as they call it. Nott joins them at the exit and the eight of them head out. The moment the bathhouse is out of sight, Nott drops her disguise. She’s a lot cleaner now than she was earlier this morning, and she seems happier too. “How was it?”, Caleb asks.

“It was pretty great! The scraping took some getting used to, but I feel a lot cleaner now! It’s very nice!”, she says.

“That’s good to hear”, Caleb says, then adds; “I had a little talk with Mollymauk and Beauregard, and it seems Beauregard knows a library we can visit. We can maybe find some useful information there”, he says and Nott’s eyes go wide. “That’s… When are we going?”, she asks.

“We could probably go now”, Caleb says. “Ehm, Beauregard?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you have time to go visit that library with us?”

Beau frowns a little. “Like, right now?”

“If you have the time”, Caleb says. “I don’t want to impose if you have any plans, just… it would be nice if we could go as soon as possible.”

Beau hums, thinks it over. “…I mean, yeah, I guess. Don’t really have anything to do today and that silent-ass place might actually help with the headache. …Yeah, yeah, let’s go, follow me. It’s a short walk anyway.”

What exactly Beau defines as ‘short’ turns out to be a tad different from Caleb’s interpretation as it turns out, half an hour later and with the three of them having trekked through pretty much the entire city. Nott mutters something under her breath and Caleb doesn’t need to speak goblin to know that it wasn’t very flattering.

Beau then stops, sweeping her arm out in a large gesture, pointing at a rather ostentatious building. “The Archive of the Cobalt Soul”, she announces. Caleb notices their walk doesn’t seem to have exhausted her in the slightest. In fact, she looks more energized. “C’mon, let’s get that stuff you need.”

Right before they enter, Beau stops, hand on the door. “I’ve been meaning to ask… how’re you holding up? Molly said you freaked and Yasha said it was the crowds. Was it?”

For a brief moment Caleb considers sticking with that story, but something in her tone tells him that if he lies, she’ll just punch the truth out of him. He doesn’t doubt she can actually do that.

So instead he sighs and shakes his head. “No, I- I saw- Do you- this is gonna sound weird, but do you have people in your life that you could go your entire life without seeing again and be just fine with that? People who, if you were to meet again, you’d rather flee the continent than talk to them? People who’ve… hurt you, real bad?”

It is a weird thing to ask, Caleb realizes, as it’s not exactly universal, but Beau’s expression changes and something like recognition appears on her face. “…Yeah, yeah I have those people. You saying you saw someone like that? Shit man, no wonder you bolted.” She pats him on the arm, far softer and gentler than he’s used to from her, and she smiles. It’s rusty, the smile of someone who’s not used to smiling that often, but it’s genuine nonetheless.

“C’mon. Let’s go in before a line forms”, she says and pushes the doors open.

The air that rushes out to great them is dusty yet cool and Caleb relaxes, the typical scent of books and ink immediately inducing a sense of peace. This is the sort of place he’s familiar with, a place he knows, no matter its location.

Beau walks up to an elven woman with blue robes similar to Beau’s, flings an arm over her shoulder says; “Hey, Jennah, what’s up? Listen, me ‘n a friend of mine need to take a look at some books here, care to give us some pointers?”, she says. The woman, Jennah, pushes Beau’s arm off of her and adjusts her glasses.

“Well, that depends on what you’re looking for”, she says. She sounds a little distant and tired and Caleb wonders if that’s because of Beau, specifically.

“Uhh, transmutation, right?”, Beau says, glancing at Caleb for confirmation. He nods and she adds; “The _dangerous_ stuff.”

Jennah frowns, her gaze going between Beau and Caleb, the latter of who tries to appear as non-threatening and innocent as possible. She barely even glances at Nott. Jennah adjusts her glasses again, humming as she thinks. “The last time you brought anyone with, she defaced a couple of busts and scattered books across random shelves. Why should I let your friend here anywhere near our rarer books?”

_That sounds like Jester._

“Becaaauuuse if you say no I’ll just ask Zeenoth and you _know_ he can’t say no to me”, Beau grins. “And I’ve already put him through enough shit recently, so I figured I’d try someone else.”

Jennah’s frown deepens as she thinks about it. Eventually she sighs; “Fine. But I’ll be keeping an eye on you three. No… _shenanigans_ , Beauregard.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Jennah looks unconvinced but does lead them to a couple of shelves in the back of the building that have been equipped with glass doors and a ton of magic locks – the rare books, Caleb assumes.

“I won’t ask what you’re looking for exactly, I only ask that you’re careful, both with the books and the knowledge you find within”, Jennah says as she starts opening the locks. She’s not looking at Caleb but he nods anyway. “I swear I’ll be careful, I know how… precious places like these can be”, he says.

Now she does look at him with just a hint of a smile. “That’s good to hear”, she says as the last lock snaps open. She waves a hand at the shelves she just unlocked. “All of these are texts about transmutation. Help yourself.”

She then walks off, leaving the three of them in front of a giant wall of books and scrolls.

“Beauregard?”

“Yeah Caleb?”

“Thank you.”

She grins. “Don’t mention it.”

\--

An hour passes and Beau watches the pile of books on the table grow with wide-eyed curiosity. “Damn dude, just how fast do you read?”

Caleb looks up from the book he had been speed-reading through and blinks. “Oh, uhm, pretty- pretty fast. It’s a skill I learned when I- while I was a student”, he says. Beau leans forward. “Where’d you study? I’ve seen you do some pretty cool shit, so it’s gotta be some fancy place, yeah?”

Caleb internally scoffs at that. Soltryce Academy could be described as fancy, but only from the outside. The inside is rotten, through and through – calling it a terrible place would still be overselling it.

“I mean it was mostly just a case of having the right teachers. Motivated people will always teach you more than unmotivated ones, and I was just… lucky enough to have found the right place with the right people”, he says and almost winces at his own words. Because it’s kind of true. The first few months at the Academy were great. The rest… not so much.

Beau doesn’t look entirely sold on the idea. “Can’t say sitting still for long periods of time is exactly my jam, but hey, you do you, man”, she says, then stretches and stands up. “Speaking of sitting still, I’m gonna walk around for a bit”, she says and eying the pile of books, she adds; “Want me to bring you some new ones?”

“Oh, uh, no, thank you, Nott’s already doing that. But thank you”, Caleb says.

“Alright, give a shout if you find something cool”, Beau says and walks off to who knows where while Caleb returns his attention to his book.

Caleb has no idea how much time has passed when a new stack is dropped next to him. Nott worms her way under his arm to look at what he’s reading – kind of like Frumpkin, he notes. “Find anything?”, she asks.

He points at a line of text. “Well, it’s- it’s weird. I keep finding these references to some sort of- object? Being? That can supposedly grant the power to bend reality but so far I have yet to find anything substantial”, Caleb says. It’s frustrating, really. It sounds like exactly the type of thing that could return Nott to her original form and fix his problems entirely, but every book he’s come across refuses to go into depth. It’s getting on his nerves.

Nott hums, rummaging to the pile she just brought, pulling out a rather thin book, all black and decorated with gold. It doesn’t have a title, just the golden outline of a nonagon on the cover. “Maybe this might be something? It doesn’t say what it’s about but I thought it looked interesting so I took it”, she says.

Caleb’s already cracked it open to take a look and finds the text written in a loopy, cursive handwriting that looks vaguely familiar, but he can’t place it. It’s easy enough to read, however, so Caleb begins committing its contents memory.

The first section that catches his attention are these pieces, these reports talking about results achieved by channeling the thing’s power;

_“Subject successfully incarnated into a different form, however lost their life in the process. Beacon proves harder to handle than previously anticipated.”_

_“Subject changed only partially, loss of sanity confirmed.”_

_“Subject deceased.”_

_“Subject deceased.”_

_“Subject successfully re-incarnated, however the soul is lost. A new personality may develop. Experiment declared a failure.”_

_“Subject deceased.”_

_“Subject deceased.”_

_“Subject successfully re-incarnated. Seems to have retained only some of their memories, observation required.”_

_“Subject deceased.”_

_“Subject successfully reincarnated. Gave a full and perfect recount of their previous life. Finally, a breakthrough.”_

The next pages are full of similar accounts, except now the results are either complete failures or complete successes, with the failures thinning out until there are at least nine successful experiments in a row. Caleb skims these pages, barely paying attention anymore, but stops and starts when he turns a page and finds it covered in soot and bloodstains. Not a lot, and the text is still legible, but it does send a temporary bolt of panic through his mind.

_“The Kryn have retrieved the Beacon, however I do not believe these lot to be minions of the Bright Queen. They have retreated to Xhorhas, where my forces cannot follow. Unless something inspires the King to initiate conflict with the Dynasty, the Beacon is considered lost to us. Until Rexxentrum has recovered from this attack I cannot do anything. Frustrating.”_

Caleb slams the book shut. An attack on Rexxentrum? When was this?

Nothing immediately comes to mind, although it’s not entirely unexpected, considering the time Caleb has spent isolated from the outside world.

He quickly abandons that train of thought. Instead he looks around, finding Nott across from him skimming a book as well. He reaches over, taps on her hand to get her attention. “I think I found something”, he says. “But I- I’ll need to study this privately. Help me find Beauregard?”

She nods and immediately runs off. Caleb looks around for Jennah, finding her a few desks away, engrossed in some reading of her own. “Ah, excuse me, Lady Archivist?”

Jennah looks up as he approaches. “Yes? What can I help you with?”

“Have you seen Beauregard? I- I have something I want her to see and… yeah”, he says. _Smooth._

“I think I saw her go outside”, she says, then notices the book Caleb is holding. “Ah, but I’m afraid I can’t let you step outside with that. Perhaps your little friend can help.” And with that, she goes back to her research.

It takes some running around and a message or two, but eventually Beau re-enters the library. “What’s up?”, she says. Caleb steps in close and she blinks for a moment. “I found something that is… relevant to what I’ve been looking for, but I need to look at it privately and apparently I am not allowed to take this outside”, he whispers.

Beau narrows her eyes. “Are you asking me to help you steal a book?”, she asks, just as quietly and keeping track of Jennah as they talk. Caleb hesitates before nodding. “I suppose I am. I realize this will get you in trouble-”

Beau holds up a hand. “I’ve been looking for an excuse to mess with these guys anyway, might as well commit book crimes”, she says. “Leave it to me.”

She goes up to Jennah and Caleb can’t hear what they’re talking about but he sees Beau point at him and Jennah shaking her head and suddenly there’s something in Beau’s hand? Which she keeps out of the Archivist’s view. “Got it”, she says, loud enough that Caleb can hear before she smashes the thing on the ground in front of her.

A cloud of green gas appears and Jennah begins to cough. Beau bolts past Nott and Caleb as she yells; “FUCKING RUN!!!”

Caleb slips the book into one of his coat’s many pockets and the three of them book it towards the exit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all I'm so fucking sorry for suddenly going up in smoke. School finally released its vice-like grip on me, after which I collapsed and I'm only now starting to beat my life back into shape. I still have a bit of backlog for this fic, so I should be able to crank out a few more updates while I figure out how to continue this fic.
> 
> Chapter 13 has me fuckin stumped and while I was in that slump, my interest drifted to another fandom and ugh-  
> But I do intend to finish this fic. Just gotta figure out... How.
> 
> Anyway enjoy the pinnacle of my writing in the shape of that pun at the end.


End file.
